Protostega
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This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (June 2008) |
| Protostega Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 80-65 Ma |
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| Protostega gigas | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Order: | Testudines |
| Suborder: | Cryptodira |
| Family: | †Protostegidae |
| Genus: | †Protostega Cope, 1871 |
Protostega gigas ('first roof' - 'giant') is an extinct species of marine turtle. It was first collected from the Smoky Hill Chalk of western Kansas in 1871, and named by E.D. Cope (1872). With a length of 3 m (10 ft), it is the second-largest turtle that ever lived, second only to the giant Archelon.[1]
Like the modern leatherback sea turtle, the largest living turtle at 2.70 m (9 ft) long, Protostega's carapace lacked scutes, making it weaker but also lighter. Protostega probably fed on slow ocean creatures such as jellyfish and shellfish.
[edit] Bibliography
- Case, E. C. (1897). "On the osteology and relationships of Protostega". Journal of Morphology 14: 21–60. doi:10.1002/jmor.1050140103. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/109914056/ABSTRACT?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0.
- Cope, E. D. 1872. Sketch of an expedition in the valley of the Smoky Hill River in Kansas. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 12(87):174-176. (meeting of October 20, 1871)
- Cope, Edward Drinker (1872). "A description of the genus Protostega". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia: 422–433.
- Cope, Edward Drinker (1878). "Note of fossils obtained by Mr. Russell S. Hill, including bones of Protostega gigas". The American Naturalist 12 (2): 137. doi:10.1086/272052.
- Hay, O.P. (1895). "On certain portions of the skeleton of Protostega gigas". Field Columbian Museum, Publications, Zoological Series 1: 57–62.
- Hay, O.P. (1898). "On Protostega, the systematic position of Dermochelys, and the morphogeny of the chelonian carapace and plastron". The American Naturalist 32 (384): 929–948. doi:10.1086/277069.
- Shimada, Kenshu; M.J. Everhart, G. E. Hooks III (2002). "Ichthyodectid fish and protostegid turtle bitten by the Late Cretaceous lamniform shark, Cretoxyrhina mantelli". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22 (3): 106.
- Sternberg, C. H. 1899. The first great roof. Popular Science News 33:126-127, 1 fig.
- Sternberg, C.H. (1905). "Protostega gigas and other Cretaceous reptiles and fishes from the Kansas chalk". Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 19: 123–128.
- Wieland, G. R. (1898). "The protostegan plastron". American Journal of Science. 4 5 (25): 15–20. doi:10.2475/ajs.s4-5.25.15.
- Wieland, G. R. (1906). "The osteology of Protostega". Carnegie Museum, Memoirs 2: 279–298.
- Wieland, G. R. (1906). "Plastron of the Protosteginae". Carnegie Museum, Annals 4: 8–14.
- Wieland, G. R. (1909). "Revision of the Ptotostegidae". American Journal of Science. 4 27 (158): 101–130. doi:10.2475/ajs.s4-27.158.101.
- Williston, S. W. (1902). "On the hind limb of Protostega". American Journal of Science. 4 13 (76): 276–278. doi:10.2475/ajs.s4-13.76.276.
- Zangerl, Rainer (May 1953). "The vertebrate fauna of the Selma Formation of Alabama, Part III. The turtles of the Family Protostegidae". Chicago Field Museum Mem. 3 (3).
[edit] References
- ^ Lutz, Peter L.; John A. Musick (1996). The Biology of Sea Turtles. CRC PRess. p. 432pp.. ISBN 0849384222. http://books.google.com/?id=fhm2yGTBiN8C&dq=protostegidae.
[edit] External links
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