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Pliocene and Pleistocene Records of Fossil
Turtles from Western Kansas and
Oklahoma

BY

EDWIN C. GALBREATH


University of Kansas Publications
Museum of Natural History

Volume 1, No. 17, pp. 281-284
August 16, 1948


University of Kansas
LAWRENCE
1948




UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS, MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman; H. H. Lane, Edward H. Taylor

Volume 1, No. 17, pp. 281-284
August 16, 1948




UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Lawrence, Kansas


PRINTED BY
FERD VOILAND, JR., STATE PRINTER
TOPEKA, KANSAS
1948

[Union Label]
22-3341




Pliocene and Pleistocene Records of Fossil Turtles from
Western Kansas and Oklahoma

By

EDWIN C. GALBREATH


In the vertebrate paleontological collection at the University of
Kansas Museum of Natural History there are many fragments of turtles
that have been collected, generally in connection with the  excavation
or recovery of other fossils. The generic identification of this
material is possible in many instances, and such identifications give
new and important geological and distributional records for genera in
existence today.

All catalogue numbers refer to the vertebrate paleontological
collection in the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History.


Family KINOSTERNIDAE

+Kinosternon+ sp. No. 7729 consists of fragments of marginals, costals,
and plastronal elements collected from Edson Quarry, Sherman County,
Kansas. The age is middle Pliocene (Hemphillian). No. 7679, consisting
of a nuchal, and fragments of marginals, costals, and neurals is from
Nye Sink, XI Ranch, Meade County, Kansas, and is of Pleistocene age.

Any fossil record of _Kinosternon_ is a welcome find, and these
two specimens give new data both as to age and distribution. However,
it should be emphasized that these identifications are based on
fragments, and are tentative.


Family EMYDIDAE

+Pseudemys+ sp. No. 5613, Sherman County; 6784, Seward County; and
4728, Meade County, are three of many fragments, mainly elements of
the nuchal plate and plastron, that were collected from Edson Quarry,
Sherman County, Kansas, and from middle and late Pliocene beds in
Seward and Meade counties, Kansas, respectively. The species
represented cannot be differentiated from species of _Pseudemys_
living today. Species of _Pseudemys_ are common also in most of the
Pleistocene deposits of western Kansas.


Family TESTUDINIDAE

+Testudo+ sp. In general, two recognizable lines of the genus _Testudo_
existed in western Kansas during early Pliocene to mid-Pleistocene
time--a line of large testudinates with a carapace three to four feet
long, and one line of smaller tortoises with a rugose carapace
approximately six to nine inches in diameter. Hibbard's _Testudo riggsi_
(Hibbard, 1944) is the best known of these smaller turtles.

+Gopherus+ sp. No. 5935 is from the Pleistocene of Harper County,
Kansas, and No. 7677 is from the early Pleistocene of Beaver County,
Oklahoma. Each is composed of costals and neurals which may be referred
to this genus. Their size indicates an animal considerably larger than
any on record, and probably these specimens represent a new species.


Family CHELYDRIDAE

+Chelydra+ sp. No. 6821 is the anterior part of a plastron from the
Edson Quarry, Sherman County, Kansas. The age is middle Pliocene. This
fragment has been listed three times in print, once merely as Chelonia
(having reference to the order) (Adams and Martin, 1931), and twice by
Hibbard (1934 and 1939) as _Chelonia_ sp. Hibbard's listing was
obviously a _lapsus calami_ for _Chelydra_ since he placed the genus in
the family Chelydridae.

No. 6479 is part of a costal and marginals from Meade County, Kansas.
This specimen was associated with _Aenocyon dirus_, and is Pleistocene
in age.


Family TRIONYCHIDAE

+Amyda+ sp. No. 6800 is part of a costal collected in Seward County,
Kansas. It is possibly of early Pleistocene age. No. 7568 is part of
a carapace from Meade County, Kansas, probably of the same age.




LITERATURE CITED


 ADAMS, L. A., and MARTIN, H. T.

  1931. An addition to the Urodele Fauna of Kansas from the lower
        Pliocene. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 19:289-297, pls. 30-32.


 HIBBARD, C. W.

  1934. Two new genera of Felidae from the middle Pliocene of Kansas.
        Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 37:239-255, pls. 4-6.

  1939. Notes on additional fauna of Edson Quarry of the middle
        Pliocene of Kansas. Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 42:457-462,
        6 figs.

  1944. A new land Tortoise, _Testudo riggsi_, from the middle Pliocene
        of Seward County, Kansas. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 30:71-76,
        2 figs.



_Transmitted, March 8, 1948._


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Transcriber's Notes

  EMphasis Notation

    _Text_  = Italic

    +Text+  = Bold