Proganochelys

Proganochelys is a genus of extinct, primitive stem-turtle. Proganochelys was named by Georg Baur in 1887 as the oldest turtle in existence at the time. The name Proganochelys comes from the Greek word ganos meaning 'brightness', combined with prefix pro, 'before', and Greek base chelys meaning 'turtle'. Proganochelys is believed to have been around 1 meter in size and herbivorous in nature. Proganochelys had been known as the most primitive stem-turtle for over a century, until the novel discovery of Odontochelys in 2008. Odontochelys and Proganochelys share unique primitive features that are not found in Casichelydia, such as tooth-like structures on the pterygoid and vomer and a plate-like coracoid.

Proganochelys

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
TestudinataPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Diapsida

Time the record covers

At least 5.4 million years on record.

The record covers at least 211.18 Mya to 205.7 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 227.3 Mya to 201.4 Mya.

Late Triassic — about 9 of 9 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 9 occurrences228–227 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences227–226 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences226–225 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences225–224 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences224–223 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences223–222 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences222–222 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences222–221 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences221–220 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences220–219 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences219–218 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences218–217 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences217–216 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences216–215 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences215–214 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences214–213 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences213–213 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences213–212 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences212–211 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences211–210 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences210–209 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences209–208 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences208–207 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences207–206 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences206–205 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences205–204 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences204–204 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences204–203 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences203–202 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences202–201 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences211.18 Mya205.7 Mya227.8 Mya200.9 Mya

9 occurrences of Proganochelys on record, most of them in the Late Triassic. 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

9 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

6 formations

Löwenstein — 48.07°N, 8.65°ELöwenstein — 48.63°N, 9.20°ETrossingen — 51.90°N, 11.07°EFleming Fjord — 71.26°N, 22.54°WBull Canyon — 35.37°N, 103.38°WKlettgau — 47.49°N, 8.02°EChinle — 35.09°N, 109.81°W

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

Proganochelys and its relatives

Late Triassic

Where Proganochelys and its relatives were recorded in the Late Triassic.

Found in the same rock

55 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 8 sites for Proganochelys, 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

9 references

Each of the 9 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. 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 content3

Picture of Proganochelys

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

Structured light scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Proganochelys quenstedtii · smf:09-F2

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itTestudinata through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Baur 1887