Basilochelys

Basilochelys is an extinct genus of land turtle which existed during the early Cretaceous period (Berriasian). Containing the sole species Basilochelys macrobios, its fossils have been found in the Phu Kradung Formation of Northeast Thailand. It is considered to be the most basal member of the group Trionychoidae.

No picture of Basilochelys was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none. Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is. GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Basilochelys, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
TrionychoideaPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Cryptodira
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Cryptodira
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Cryptodira

Time the record covers

At most 13 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 149.2 Mya and 137.05 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Late Jurassic — about 2 of 3 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 1 of 3 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous149–149 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences149–148 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences148–148 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences148–148 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences148–147 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences147–147 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences147–146 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences146–146 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences146–145 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences145–145 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences145–144 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences144–144 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences144–144 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences144–143 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences143–143 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences143–142 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences142–142 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences142–141 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences141–141 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences141–140 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences140–140 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences140–140 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences140–139 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences139–139 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences139–138 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences138–138 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences138–137 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences137–137 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences149.7 Mya136.6 Mya

3 occurrences of Basilochelys on record, most of them in the Late Jurassic. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

3 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

1 formation

Phu Kradung — 16.27°N, 104.43°EPhu Kradung — 16.98°N, 103.57°EPhu Kradung — 16.74°N, 104.18°E

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The named rock units Basilochelys has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Basilochelys and its relatives

Late Jurassic

Where Basilochelys and its relatives were recorded in the Late Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

14 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 3 sites for Basilochelys, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

3 references

Each of the 3 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content0

No picture of Basilochelys was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none.

Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is.

GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Basilochelys, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

No 3D scan of Basilochelys was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itTrionychoidea through timeFormations of the Late JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Tong et al. 2009