New material and phylogenetic position of Adocus bostobensis, a poorly known adocid turtle from the Late Cretaceous of Kazakhstan

E.V. Syromyatnikova and I.G. Danilov

Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS, 2013, 317(2): 195–201 · https://doi.org/10.31610/trudyzin/2013.317.2.195

Full text

Abstract

This paper presents a description of a new material of Adocus bostobensis, a poorly known adocid turtle from the Late Cretaceous of Kazakhstan. The new material of A. bostobensis comes from the Bostobe Formation (Santonian – early Campanian) of Shakh-Shakh II locality (northeastern Aral Sea area, Kazakhstan) and includes about 30 shell fragments and several elements of non-shell postcrania, potentially, from a single individual. This material allows us to reveal some previously unknown characters of Adocus bostobensis, improve its diagnosis and include this species in a phylogenetic analysis of Adocusia (Adocidae + Nanhsiungchelyidae) for the first time. The phylogenetic analysis places A. bostobensis in a clade with A. aksary and A. amtgai (both from the Late Cretaceous of Asia). Finally, our study demonstrates presence of at least two different lineages of Adocus (A. bostobensis and A. foveatus) in the Santonian of Western Asia.

Key words

Adocidae, Adocus, Asia, Late Cretaceous, Kazakhstan, turtles

Submitted April 30, 2013 · Accepted May 30, 2013 · Published June 25, 2013

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