Cyclanorbinae

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Cyclanorbinae
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous to recent, 70.6–0  Ma
Lissemys punctata5.jpg
Indian flapshell turtle
Lissemys punctata
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Family: Trionychidae
Subfamily: Cyclanorbinae
Lydekker, 1889

Cyclanorbinae, also known commonly as the flapshell turtles, is a subfamily of softshell turtles in the family Trionychidae. The subfamily is native to Africa and Asia.

Contents

Taxonomy

Morphological evidence supports Cyclanorbinae being the sister group to the Plastomeninae, an extinct subfamily of softshell turtles that inhabited North America from the Cretaceous to the Eocene. [1] [2]

Genera

The subfamily Cyclanorbinae contains the following three extant genera. [3]

One extinct prehistoric genus is also known from fossil remains: Nemegtemys Danilov et al., 2014, from the Cretaceous of Mongolia. [4]

Geographic range

Species in the genera Cyclanorbis and Cycloderma are found in Africa; species in the genus Lissemys are found in Asia. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chelydridae</span> Family of turtles

The Chelydridae is a family of turtles that has seven extinct and two extant genera. The extant genera are the snapping turtles, Chelydra and Macrochelys. Both are endemic to the Western Hemisphere. The extinct genera are Acherontemys, Chelydrops, Chelydropsis, Emarginachelys, Macrocephalochelys, Planiplastron, and Protochelydra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoemydidae</span> Family of turtles

The Geoemydidae are one of the largest and most diverse families in the order Testudines (turtles), with about 70 species. The family includes the Eurasian pond and river turtles and Neotropical wood turtles. Members of this family are commonly called Leaf turtle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emydidae</span> Family of turtles

Emydidae is a family of testudines (turtles) that includes close to 50 species in 10 genera. Members of this family are commonly called terrapins, pond turtles, or marsh turtles. Several species of Asian box turtles were formerly classified in the family; however, revised taxonomy has separated them to a different family (Geoemydidae). As currently defined, the Emydidae are entirely a Western Hemisphere family, with the exception of two species of pond turtle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trionychidae</span> Family of turtles

The Trionychidae are a taxonomic family of a number of turtle genera, commonly known as softshell turtles. The family was erected by Leopold Fitzinger in 1826. Softshells include some of the world's largest freshwater turtles, though many can adapt to living in highly brackish areas. Members of this family occur in Africa, Asia, and North America, with extinct species known from Australia. Most species have traditionally been included in the genus Trionyx, but the vast majority have since been moved to other genera. Among these are the North American Apalone softshells that were placed in Trionyx until 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chelidae</span> Family of turtles

Chelidae is one of three living families of the turtle suborder Pleurodira, and are commonly called Austro-South American side-neck turtles. The family is distributed in Australia, New Guinea, parts of Indonesia, and throughout most of South America. It is a large family of turtles with a significant fossil history dating back to the Cretaceous. The family is entirely Gondwanan in origin, with no members found outside Gondwana, either in the present day or as a fossil.

<i>Lissemys</i> Genus of turtles

Lissemys is a genus of softshell turtles in the subfamily Cyclanorbinae of the family Trionychidae. The genus is indigenous to southern Asia.

<i>Pelochelys</i> Genus of turtles

Pelochelys is a genus of very large softshell turtles in the family Trionychidae. They are found from peninsular India northeast to southern China, and south to Southeast Asia and New Guinea.

<i>Apalone</i> Genus of turtles

Apalone is a genus of turtles in the family Trionychidae. The three species of Apalone are native to freshwater habitats in North America; they are the only living softshell turtles from the Americas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trionychia</span> Superfamily of turtles

Trionychia is a superfamily of turtles which encompasses the species that are commonly referred to as softshelled turtles as well as some others. The group contains two families, Carettochelyidae, which has only one living species, the pig-nosed turtle native to New Guinea and Northern Australia, and Trionychidae, the softshelled turtles, containing numerous species native to Asia, North America and Africa. These families likely diverged during the late Jurassic. The oldest known stem-trionychian is Sinaspideretes from the Late Jurassic of China.

<i>Amyda</i> Genus of turtles

Amyda is a genus of softshell turtles in the family Trionychidae. It contains two extant species:

<i>Cyclanorbis</i> Genus of turtles

Cyclanorbis is a genus of softshell turtles in the family Trionychidae. The genus is endemic to Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Senegal flapshell turtle</span> Species of turtle

The Senegal flapshell turtle is a species of turtle in the subfamily Cyclanorbinae of the family Trionychidae. The species, which is one of two species of softshell turtles in the genus Cyclanorbis, is endemic to Africa.

<i>Cycloderma</i> Genus of turtles

Cycloderma is a genus of softshell turtles in the subfamily Cyclanorbinae of the family Trionychidae. The genus is endemic to Africa.

<i>Nilssonia</i> (turtle) Genus of turtles

Nilssonia is a genus of softshell turtles from rivers, streams, ponds, and lakes in South Asia and Burma. In many treatments, it is monotypic, with the single species Burmese peacock softshell. However, the supposed other genus of peacock softshells, Aspideretes, is more closely related to N. formosa than had been believed. They differ only in the neural plates between the first pleural scale pair of the bony carapace, which are fused into one in N. formosa and unfused in the others.

<i>Rafetus</i> Genus of turtles

Rafetus is a genus of highly endangered softshell turtles in the family Trionychidae. It is a genus of large turtles which are found in freshwater habitats in Asia.

Hutchemys is an extinct genus of softshell turtles from the late Cretaceous to the late Paleocene of New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and North Dakota, United States. It was first named by Walter G. Joyce, Ariel Revan, Tyler R. Lyson and Igor G. Danilov in 2009, and the type species is Hutchemys rememdium. H. rememdium is known from the holotype YPM PU 16795, which consists of a nearly complete postcranial skeleton, and from the referred specimen YPM PU 16781, found in the Ekalaka Member of the Fort Union Formation, Montana. Another referred specimen, YPM PU 14985, was found in the Cedar Point Quarry, Wyoming. The second species, H. arctochelys, is known from the holotype YPM PU 16319, a nearly complete carapace, and from the paratypes YPM PU 16320, YPM PU 16321, YPM PU 16322, YPM PU 16238. All specimens of H. arctochelys were recovered from the same quarry of the Tongue River Member, Fort Union Formation, near Burns Mine of Montana. A possible third species is represented by the unnamed specimen UCMP 130000 from the Paleocene Tullock Formation of Montana. Aspideretes? nassau (YPM PU 11566) from the Fort Union Formation, Duffy's Ranch of Sweet Grass County, Montana was also assigned to Hutchemys sp. A fourth species of Hutchemys, Hutchemys walkerorum, has been uncovered from the Hell Creek Formation of North Dakota. H. walkerorum is known from the holotype BDM 063, identified by the discovery and assembly of portions of its carapace. The fossil of H. walkerorum suggests that it was the only Hutchemys to live exclusively during the late Cretaceous era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trionychinae</span> Subfamily of turtles

The Trionychinae are a subfamily of turtles in the family Trionychidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African softshell turtle</span> Species of turtle

The African softshell turtle, or Nile softshell turtle, is a large species of softshell turtle from freshwater and brackish-water habitats in Africa and the Near East. It is the only extant species in the genus Trionyx; historically, despite other species having been formerly placed in this genus as well, they have all been reclassified to other genera. Despite the common name of "African softshell turtle", Trionyx triunguis is not the sole species of softshell turtle found in Africa—the generas Cyclanorbis and Cycloderma are African—nor is it solely found on that continent, alone. T. triunguis is a very large species of softshell turtle, with sizes ranging from 85 to 94 cm, with a weight of 40 kg, and an unconfirmed max size of 120 cm. They are omnivorous in their diet, consuming not only small fish, frogs, tadpoles and crustaceans, but also floating palm seeds and fallen leaves, and some aquatic vegetation.

<i>Trionyx</i> Genus of turtles

Trionyx is a genus of softshell turtles belonging to the family Trionychidae. In the past many species in the family were classified in this genus, but today T. triunguis, the African or Nile softshell turtle, is the only extant softshell still classified as Trionyx. The other species still assigned to this genus are only known from fossils. T. triunguis is a relatively large, aquatic piscivore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plastomeninae</span>

Plastomeninae is an extinct subfamily of softshell turtles that inhabited most of North America from the Cretaceous to the Eocene. Members of this subfamily are also known as plastomenines.

References

  1. Joyce, Walter G.; Revan, Ariel; Lyson, Tyler R.; Danilov, Igor G. (October 2009). "Two New Plastomenine Softshell Turtles from the Paleocene of Montana and Wyoming". Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 50 (2): 307–325. doi:10.3374/014.050.0202. ISSN   0079-032X. S2CID   85505337.
  2. Jasinski, Steven E.; Heckert, Andrew B.; Sailar, Ciara; Lichtig, Asher J.; Lucas, Spencer G.; Dodson, Peter (2022-07-01). "A softshell turtle (Testudines: Trionychidae: Plastomeninae) from the uppermost Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Hell Creek Formation, North Dakota, USA, with implications for the evolutionary relationships of plastomenines and other trionychids". Cretaceous Research. 135: 105172. Bibcode:2022CrRes.13505172J. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105172. ISSN   0195-6671. S2CID   246803273.
  3. Turtle Taxonomy Working Group (Rhodin, Anders G.J.; Parham, James F.; van Dijk, Peter Paul; Iverson, John B.) (2009)."Turtles of the World: Annotated Checklist of Taxonomy and Synonymy, 2009 Update". Archived 2016-04-06 at the Wayback Machine Chelonian Research Monographs (5): 000.39-000.84. (Cyclanorbinae, pp. 000.55-000.56).
  4. "Fossilworks: Nemegtemys ". fossilworks.org. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  5. "Cyclanorbinae". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.

Further reading