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Bone histology of the Middle jurassic turtle shell remains from Kirtlington, Oxfordshire, England

Scheyer, T M; Anquetin, J (2008). Bone histology of the Middle jurassic turtle shell remains from Kirtlington, Oxfordshire, England. Lethaia, 41(1):85-96.

Abstract

The Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) turtle material from the Mammal Bed at Kirtlington, Oxfordshire, England, has recently been tentatively referred to the Pleurosternidae, although the known synapomorphies of this clade were absent from the specimens. Here we present new evidence from shell bone histology that corroborates reports of pleurosternids at Kirtlington and further reveal that two different histomorphs (= two different taxa) are present in this locality. The first histomorph presents the distinctive histological structure of pleurosternids, which is described herein for the first time: the external cortical bone layers are differentiated into an inner zone of coarse, irregularly interwoven structural fibre bundles and an outer fine-fibred zone. The second histomorph has a more plesiomorphic structure and can only be assigned to Cryptodira indet. A morphological reassessment of the Kirtlington material fails to recognize two different taxa and shows that only sparse evidence supports the presence of pleurosternids in this locality. Shell bone histology thus appears as a powerful tool to study poorly preserved specimens and may in some case (like with pleurosternids) help resolve phylogenetic relationships. According to our results, the stratigraphic appearance of the Pleurosternidae is adjusted from the Kimmeridgian (Late Jurassic) to the Bathonian (Middle Jurassic), which significantly reduces the ghost lineage of Paracryptodira

Additional indexing

Item Type:Journal Article, refereed, original work
Communities & Collections:07 Faculty of Science > Department of Paleontology
Dewey Decimal Classification:560 Fossils & prehistoric life
Scopus Subject Areas:Life Sciences > Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Physical Sciences > Paleontology
Language:English
Date:17 October 2008
Deposited On:29 Dec 2008 13:24
Last Modified:01 Nov 2024 02:40
Publisher:Wiley-Blackwell
ISSN:0024-1164
OA Status:Closed
Publisher DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1502-3931.2007.00044.x

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