A compsemydid turtle from the Upper Cretaceous of Var, southern France

Calissounemys matheroni gen. et sp. nov. (Testudines) is described on the basis of a skull and shell elements from the Upper Cretaceous of Var, southern France. This new taxon is assigned to the family Compsemydidae and characterized by a thick-boned, robust skull, a shallow temporal emargination, a crista supraoccipitalis not extending beyond the posterior edge of the skull roof, large nasals meeting along the midline for their full length; frontals retracted from the orbital margin, absence of a cheek emargination, a large jugal forming a substantial part of the orbital margin, absence of a secondary palate and an uneven upper triturating surface; and the shell with vertebral 1 clearly wider than vertebrals 2-3, with the lateral margins strongly divergent towards the anterior border and wider than long vertebrals 2-3. This find increases the diversity of the Late Cretaceous turtle fauna from southern France, and fills a stratigraphical gap in the fossil record of Compsemydidae between the Early Cretaceous and the Paleocene in Europe. (c) 2022 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

A new turtle species, Calissounemys matheroni, is described from the Upper Cretaceous deposits in Var, southern France. This species belongs to the family Compsemydidae and is characterized by a thick-boned skull, shallow temporal emargination, specific features of the nasals, frontals, and jugal bones, and unique shell characteristics. It expands the diversity of Late Cretaceous turtles in southern France and fills a gap in the fossil record of Compsemydidae in Europe between the Early Cretaceous and the Paleocene.