New findings of Pleistocene fossil turtles (Geoemydidae, Kinosternidae and Chelydridae) from Santa Elena Province, Ecuador

Edwin A Cadena; Juan Abella; Maria D Gregori

doi:10.7717/peerj.3215

New findings of Pleistocene fossil turtles (Geoemydidae, Kinosternidae and Chelydridae) from Santa Elena Province, Ecuador

PeerJ. 2017 Apr 20:5:e3215. doi: 10.7717/peerj.3215. eCollection 2017.

Authors

Edwin A Cadena¹, Juan Abella^{2

3}, Maria D Gregori²

Affiliations

¹ Escuela de Ciencias Geológicas e Ingeniería, Yachay Tech, San Miguel de Urcuquí, Imbabura, Ecuador.
² Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Estatal de la Peninsula de Santa Elena, La Libertad, Santa Elena, Ecuador.
³ Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Institut Català de Paleontologia- Miquel Crusafont, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.

Abstract

New Pleistocene fossilized turtle remains from five localities of western Ecuador (Santa Elena Province) are described here. All these shell (carapace and plastron) fossil remains come from the Tablazo Formation and belong to three different lineages of cryptodires ("hidden-necked" turtles). The most abundant remains belong to geoemydids, attributed here to the genus Rhinoclemmys (indeterminate species). Less abundant in occurrence are the kinosternidids, attributed to Kinosternon (indeterminate species), and the first fossil record of chelydrids, Chelydra(indeterminate species), in the entirety of Central and South America.

Keywords: Chelydridae; Geoemydidae; Kinosternidae; Paleobiodiversity; Testudines.

Grants and funding

Funding for this work was provided by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany under a return fellowship given to E Cadena, and funds from the School of Geological Science and Engineering of Yachay Tech. “Proyecto Prometeo” of the “Secretaria de Educación Superior, Ciencia Tecnología e Innovación”, Republic of Ecuador. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.