Palaeoamyda

Palaeoamyda Temporal range:
Palaeoamyda messeliana from Messel Pit Fossil Site at the Naturmuseum Senckenberg
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Testudines
Suborder:	Cryptodira
Family:	Trionychidae
Subfamily:	Trionychinae
Genus:	†Palaeoamyda Cadena, 2016
Species:	†P. messeliana
Binomial name
†Palaeoamyda messeliana (Reinach 1900)

Palaeoamyda is an extinct genus of softshell turtle belonging to the family Trionychidae. Remains have been found in the Eocene of Germany.

Taxonomy

Karl (1998) considered Palaeoamyda a synonym of Rafetoides austriacus (Peters, 1858), but subsequent re-description of the material showed that it was a distinct genus in its own right.

Description

Palaeoamyda is a three-clawed soft-shell turtle that can reach a length of about two feet. It is the largest species of turtles of Messel Pit Fossil Site. The carapace and plastron are not connected by bony prominences and the plastron shows bony plates reduced to small protrusions.

References

• H.-V. Karl - Zur Taxonomie der känozoischen Weichschildkröten Österreichs und Deutschlands (Trionychidae: Trionychinae).- Mitt. Geol. Und Paläont. Landesmuseum Joanneum, 56: 273- 328; Graz (1998).
• M. Morlo, S. Schaal, G. Mayr, C. Seiffert - Annotated taxonomic list of the Middle Eocene Vertebrata of Messel (2004)
• Colin Tudge Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor
• Natuur informatie
• Hans-Volker Karl Jurnal Article