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Chelydridae

 

 
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Chelydridae
 
 
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There are two extant species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
 of the family
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
 Chelydridae: Chelydra serpentina, the Common Snapping Turtle, and its larger relative Macrochelys temminckii, the Alligator Snapping Turtle
Alligator Snapping Turtle

The Alligator Snapping Turtle is one of the largest freshwater turtles in the world. It is a larger and slightly less aggressive relative of the Common Snapping Turtle....
 (although the monotypic Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
n genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 Platysternon
Big-headed Turtle

The Big-headed Turtle is a species of turtle in the subfamily Platysterninae. Previously considered a distinct family placed on occasion in the now-defunct "Kinosternoidea", it was later moved to the Emydidae....
 has at times been included in this group). Both are endemic
Endemic (ecology)

Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a particular geographic location, such as a specific island, Habitat type, nation, or other defined zone....
 to the Western Hemisphere
Western Hemisphere

The Western Hemisphere, also Western hemisphere or western hemisphere, is a geography term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian , the other half being the Eastern Hemisphere....
.

Chelydridae have a long fossil
Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or trace fossil of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossiliferous Rock formations and sedimentary rock layers is known as the fossil record....
 history, with extinct
Extinction

In biology and ecology, extinction is the death of every member of a species or group of taxon. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of that species ....
 species reported from North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
, Asia and Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, far outside its present range.






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There are two extant species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
 of the family
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
 Chelydridae: Chelydra serpentina, the Common Snapping Turtle, and its larger relative Macrochelys temminckii, the Alligator Snapping Turtle
Alligator Snapping Turtle

The Alligator Snapping Turtle is one of the largest freshwater turtles in the world. It is a larger and slightly less aggressive relative of the Common Snapping Turtle....
 (although the monotypic Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
n genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 Platysternon
Big-headed Turtle

The Big-headed Turtle is a species of turtle in the subfamily Platysterninae. Previously considered a distinct family placed on occasion in the now-defunct "Kinosternoidea", it was later moved to the Emydidae....
 has at times been included in this group). Both are endemic
Endemic (ecology)

Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a particular geographic location, such as a specific island, Habitat type, nation, or other defined zone....
 to the Western Hemisphere
Western Hemisphere

The Western Hemisphere, also Western hemisphere or western hemisphere, is a geography term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian , the other half being the Eastern Hemisphere....
.

Fossil history

The Chelydridae have a long fossil
Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or trace fossil of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossiliferous Rock formations and sedimentary rock layers is known as the fossil record....
 history, with extinct
Extinction

In biology and ecology, extinction is the death of every member of a species or group of taxon. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of that species ....
 species reported from North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
, Asia and Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, far outside its present range. The earliest described chelydrid is Emarginachelys cretacea, known from well preserved fossils from the Maastrichtian
Maastrichtian

The Maastrichtian is the last faunal stage of the Cretaceous geologic period, and therefore of the Mesozoic geologic era. It spanned from 70.6 ? 0.6 annum to 65.5 ? 0.3 Ma ....
 stage of the Late Cretaceous
Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide, is a geologic period from circa to million years ago . In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows on the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period....
 of Montana
Montana

Montana is a U.S. state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains....
. Another well preserved fossil chelydrid is the Late Paleocene
Paleocene

The Paleocene or Palaeocene, "early dawn of the recent" is a geologic epoch that lasted from 65.5 ? 0.3 Mega-annum to 55.8 ? 0.2 Ma . It is the first epoch of the Palaeogene Period in the modern Cenozoic era ....
 Protochelydra zangerli from North Dakota
North Dakota

North Dakota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States and Western United States regions of the United States of America. North Dakota is the 19th largest state by area in the US; it is the 48th most populous, with just over 640,000 residents as of 2006....
. The carapace
Carapace

A carapace is a Dorsum section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods such as crustaceans and arachnids as well as vertebrates such as chelonians, order Testudines, turtles and tortoises....
 of Protochelydra is higher domed than that of the Recent Chelydra, a trait conjectured to be associated with the coexistence of large, chelonivorous (i.e., turtle-eating) crocodilia
Crocodilia

Crocodilia is an order of large reptiles that appeared about 84 million years ago in the late Cretaceous Period . They are the closest living relatives of birds, as the two groups are the only known survivors of the Archosauria....
ns. Another genus, Chelydropsis, contains several well known Eurasia
Eurasia

Eurasia is a large landmass covering about 53,990,000 km? or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface . Often considered a single continent, Eurasia comprises the traditional continents of Europe and Asia, concepts which date back to classical antiquity and the borders for which are somewhat arbitrary....
n chelydrid species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
 that existed from the Oligocene
Oligocene

The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Geologic Timescale and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present....
 to the Pliocene
Pliocene

The Pliocene epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 1.806 million years before present.The Pliocene is the second epoch of the Neogene period in the Cenozoic era....
.

Classification of known genera

  • Family Chelydridae
      • Genus Acherontemys
        Acherontemys

        Acherontemys is an extinct genus of chelydridae....
         (extinct)
      • Genus Chelydrops
        Chelydrops

        Chelydrops is an extinct genus of chelydridae....
         (extinct)
      • Genus Chelydropsis
        Chelydropsis

        Chelydropsis is an extinct genus of Chelydridae that lived from the Oligocene to the Pliocene in Asia and Europe....
         (extinct)
      • Genus Emarginachelys
        Emarginachelys

        Emarginachelys cretacea is the earliest described chelydridae, known from well preserved fossils from the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous of Montana....
         (extinct)
      • Genus Macrocephalochelys
        Macrocephalochelys

        Macrocephalochelys is an extinct genus of chelydridae....
         (extinct)
      • Genus Planiplastron
        Planiplastron

        Planiplastron is an extinct genus of chelydridae....
         (extinct)
    • Subfamily Chelydrinae
      • Genus Protochelydra
        Protochelydra

        Protochelydra is an extinct genus of chelydridae....
         (extinct)
      • Genus Macrochelys
      • Genus Chelydra