Eileanchelys

Eileanchelys

Eileanchelys Fossil range: Middle Jurassic
Scientific classification
Class	Sauropsida
Order	Testudines
Genus	Eileanchelys Anquetin et al., 2009
Species	E. waldmani Anquetin et al., 2009 (type)

Eileanchelys is an extinct genus of pond turtle from the Middle Jurassic period some 164 million years ago of Britain. It was once the earliest swimming turtle known to science, and was thought to be an evolutionary bridge between early land turtles and sea turtles. But in 2008 the oldest turtle species known was announced, Odontochelys, and it appears to have also been aquatic, 60 million years earlier. Only one species is recorded, Eileanchelys waldmani.^[1]

Reference[]

^ Anquetin, J.; Barrett, P. M.; Jones, M. E. H.; Moore-Fay, S. & Evans, S. E. 2009. A new stem turtle from the Middle Jurassic of Scotland: new insights into the evolution and palaeoecology of basal turtles. Proc. R. Soc. B 276: 879-886.

External links[]

[1] Anquetin, J.; Barrett, P. M.; Jones, M. E. H.; Moore-Fay, S. & Evans, S. E. 2009. A new stem turtle from the Middle Jurassic of Scotland: new insights into the evolution and palaeoecology of basal turtles. Proc. R. Soc. B 276: 879-886.

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