• DOI:10.4202/app.2013.0045
• Corpus ID: 54724218

A New Soft-Shelled Trionychid Turtle of the Genus Khunnuchelys from the Upper Cretaceous Bostobe Formation of Kazakhstan

@inproceedings{Danilov2013ANS,
  title={A New Soft-Shelled Trionychid Turtle of the Genus Khunnuchelys from the Upper Cretaceous Bostobe Formation of Kazakhstan},
  author={Igor G. Danilov and Natasha S. Vitek and Alexander O. Averianov and Vadim N. Glinskiy},
  year={2013}
}

• I. Danilov, N. Vitek, +1 author V. Glinskiy
• Published 2013
• Geology, Biology

Previously unpublished trionychid turtle material from the Upper Cretaceous (Santonian—lower Campanian) Bostobe Formation from the Baybishe and Baykhozha localities in Kazakhstan is described. The material represents a new species of Khunnuchelys, a large, skull-based clade of Cretaceous Asian trionychids. Concordant with other partial skulls and fragmentary specimens described previously, Khunnuchelys lophorhothon sp. nov. has the unusual features of a beaklike maxilla and a vaulted, expanded triturating surface. In addition, the specimens reveal novel features including a constricted skull roof. Although estimates of the length of the carapace differ depending on estimation method, the skull belonged to a turtle of comparable size to the shell-based species “Trionyx” kansaiensis from the same formation. It is likely that K. lophorhothon and T. lophorhothon kansaiensis are synonymous, but this can be proved only by a find of associated skull and shell material.