Naomichelys

Naomichelys is an extinct genus of helochelydrid stem turtle known from the Cretaceous (Aptian-Campanian) of North America. It is the only member of the family known to be native to North America.

Naomichelys

Jonathan Chen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
HelochelydridaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Diapsida

Time the record covers

At least 29 million years on record.

The record covers at least 113.2 Mya to 83.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 137.05 Mya to 72.2 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 27 of 46 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 19 of 46 occurrencesLate Cretaceous138–136 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences136–134 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences134–132 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences132–129 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences129–127 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences127–125 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences125–123 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences123–120 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences120–118 Mya — about 3 occurrences118–116 Mya — about 4 occurrences116–114 Mya — about 4 occurrences114–111 Mya — about 4 occurrences111–109 Mya — about 3 occurrences109–107 Mya — about 2 occurrences107–105 Mya — about 2 occurrences105–102 Mya — about 2 occurrences102–100 Mya — about 2 occurrences100–98 Mya — about 2 occurrences98–96 Mya — about 2 occurrences96–93 Mya — about 1 occurrence93–91 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences91–89 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences89–87 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences87–84 Mya — about 2 occurrences84–82 Mya — about 2 occurrences82–80 Mya — about 2 occurrences80–78 Mya — about 2 occurrences78–75 Mya — about 2 occurrences75–73 Mya — about 2 occurrences73–71 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences113.2 Mya83.6 Mya138 Mya71 Mya

46 occurrences of Naomichelys on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. 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

46 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

19 formations

Cloverly — 45.38°N, 108.24°WCloverly — 44.98°N, 108.32°WCloverly — 45.44°N, 108.14°WCloverly — 45.23°N, 108.81°WCloverly — 45.47°N, 108.12°WCloverly — 45.26°N, 108.41°WCloverly — 44.65°N, 107.88°WCloverly — 44.51°N, 107.90°WCloverly — 44.50°N, 107.82°WCloverly — 44.44°N, 109.06°WCloverly — 45.80°N, 109.80°WCloverly — 45.49°N, 108.73°WAntlers — 33.28°N, 97.62°WAntlers — 33.50°N, 97.58°WAntlers — 34.15°N, 95.82°WPaluxy — 33.53°N, 97.56°WPaluxy — 33.15°N, 97.57°WPaluxy — 33.08°N, 97.64°WEl Gallo — 30.20°N, 115.79°WEl Gallo — 30.08°N, 115.78°WForemost — 49.13°N, 110.87°WForemost — 49.60°N, 111.00°WIron Springs — 37.81°N, 112.81°WIron Springs — 37.57°N, 113.43°WCedar Mountain — 39.05°N, 111.04°WStraight Cliffs — 37.70°N, 113.00°WWahweap — 37.59°N, 112.90°WTwin Mountains — 32.76°N, 97.89°WKaskapau — 55.15°N, 120.93°WMasuk — 38.07°N, 110.91°WWillow Tank — 36.42°N, 114.55°WLewisville — 32.81°N, 97.08°WHolly Creek — 34.09°N, 93.88°WDraney Limestone — 43.05°N, 111.16°WArundel Clay — 39.07°N, 76.87°WMenefee — 36.80°N, 108.41°WMooreville Chalk — 32.34°N, 86.40°W

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The named rock units Naomichelys has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Naomichelys and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Naomichelys and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

303 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 45 sites for Naomichelys, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

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

32 references

Each of the 46 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. 20 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Naomichelys

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Naomichelys speciosa · FMNH:PR:273

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 itHelochelydridae through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Hay 1908