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Gross morphology and microstructure of type locality ossicles of Psephophorus polygonus Meyer, 1847 (Testudines, Dermochelyidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2013

MASSIMO DELFINO ,
TORSTEN M. SCHEYER ,
FRANCESCO CHESI ,
TAMARA FLETCHER ,
RICHARD GEMEL ,
STEWART MACDONALD ,
MÁRTON RABI  and
STEVEN W. SALISBURY
MASSIMO DELFINO*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Torino, Via Valperga Caluso 35, I-10125 Torino, Italy Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici ICP, Campus de la UAB s/n, E-08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
TORSTEN M. SCHEYER
Affiliation:
Paläontologisches Institut und Museum, Universität Zürich, Karl Schmid-Strasse 4, CH-8006 Zürich, Switzerland
FRANCESCO CHESI
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Firenze, Via G. La Pira 4, I-50121 Firenze, Italy
TAMARA FLETCHER
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia
RICHARD GEMEL
Affiliation:
Herpetologische Sammlung, Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Burgring 7, A-1010 Wien, Austria
STEWART MACDONALD
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia
MÁRTON RABI
Affiliation:
Őslénytani Tanszék, Eötvös Loránd Tudomány Egyetem, H-1117 Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary Institut für Geowissenschaften, University of Tübingen, Sigwartstr. 10, D-72070 Tübingen, Germany
STEVEN W. SALISBURY
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia
*
†Author for correspondence: massimo.delfino@unito.it
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Abstract

Psephophorus polygonus Meyer, 1847, the first fossil leatherback turtle to be named, was described on the basis of shell ossicles from the middle Miocene (MN6–7/8?) of Slovakia. The whereabouts of this material is uncertain but a slab on display at the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien is considered the neotype. We rediscovered further type locality ossicles in four European institutions, re-evaluated their gross morphology and described for the first time their microstructure by comparing them with Dermochelys coriacea, the only living dermochelyid turtle. The gross morphology is congruent with that already described for P. polygonus, but with two significant exceptions: the ridged ossicles of P. polygonus may have a distinctly concave ventral surface as well as a tectiform shape in cross-section. They do not develop the external keel typical of many ossicles of D. coriacea. Both ridged and non-ridged ossicles of P. polygonus are characterized by compact diploe structures with an internal cortex consisting of a coarse fibrous meshwork, whereas the proportionately thinner ossicles of D. coriacea tend to lose the internal cortex, and thus their diploe, during ontogeny. The ossicles of both P. polygonus and D. coriacea differ from those of other lineages of amniotes whose carapace is composed of polygonal ossicles or platelets, in having growth centres situated at the plate centres just interior to the external bone surface and not within the cancellous core or closer to the internal compact layer. The new diagnosis of P. polygonus allows us to preliminarily re-evaluate the taxonomy of some of the Psephophorus-like species. Despite some macro- and micromorphological differences, it seems likely that Psephophorus was as cosmopolitan as extant Dermochelys and had a broadly similar ecology, with a possible difference concerning the dive depth.

Keywords

Dermochelys coriaceabone histologymiddle Miocenepalaeoecologypetrographic thin-sectionstaxonomy

Information

Type
Original Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 150 , Issue 5 , September 2013 , pp. 767 - 782
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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