Psephophorus

Psephophorus is an extinct genus of sea turtle that lived from the Oligocene to the Pliocene. Its remains have been found in Europe, Africa, North America, and New Zealand. It was first named by Hermann von Meyer in 1847, and contains eight species, P. polygonus, P. calvertensis, P. eocaenus, P. oregonesis, P. californiensis, P. rupeliensis, P. scaldii, and P. terrypratchetti.

Psephophorus

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
DermochelyiniPBDB
Diet
durophage, piscivorePBDB, for Dermochelyidae
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Dermochelyidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Dermochelyidae

Time the record covers

At least 32 million years on record.

The record covers at least 37.71 Mya to 5.333 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 41.03 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Eocene — about 4 of 32 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 4 of 32 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 20 of 32 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 32 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 32 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 1 occurrence39–38 Mya — about 1 occurrence38–36 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences30–28 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 1 occurrence15–14 Mya — about 2 occurrences14–12 Mya — about 4 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 3 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.8–8.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.5–7.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.1–5.8 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences5.8–4.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.5–3.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.1–1.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences37.71 Mya5.333 Mya41.8 Mya1.8 Mya

32 occurrences of Psephophorus on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

32 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

18 formations

Calvert — 38.67°N, 76.53°WCalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°WCalvert — 38.16°N, 76.83°WCalvert — 38.61°N, 76.52°WCalvert — 38.38°N, 76.99°WCalvert — 38.52°N, 76.51°WLa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.60°WLa Meseta — 64.23°S, 56.67°WSt. Marys — 38.16°N, 76.83°WSt. Marys — 38.35°N, 76.39°WGram — 55.31°N, 9.06°EDoberg — 52.18°N, 8.61°EMonterey — 33.60°N, 117.70°WCapistrano — 33.48°N, 117.71°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WPeace River — 27.80°N, 81.98°WQasr el-Sagha — 29.62°N, 30.69°ESanta Margarita — 37.05°N, 122.04°WPietra Leccese — 40.35°N, 18.17°EPurisima — 36.96°N, 121.99°WBreda — 51.37°N, 3.91°EAshley — 32.89°N, 79.84°WChoptank — 38.48°N, 76.49°WSt Marys — 38.16°N, 76.45°WChandler Bridge — 32.97°N, 80.15°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Psephophorus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Psephophorus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Psephophorus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

878 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 30 sites for Psephophorus, 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

24 references

Each of the 32 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. 12 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 Psephophorus

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

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
nzfauna
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itDermochelyini through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. von Meyer 1847