A taxonomic revision of geoemydid turtles from Siwalik-age of India and Pakistan

  • Rafaella C. Garbin Department of Geosciences, University of Fribourg, Fribourg; Chemin du Musée 6, 1700 Fribourg
  • Saswati Bandyopadhyay Geological Studies Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata; Barrackpore Trunk Road 233, Kolkata
  • Walter G. Joyce Department of Geosciences, University of Fribourg, Fribourg; Chemin du Musée 6, 1700 Fribourg
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2020.652
Keywords: paleontology, Neogene, taxonomy, Siwaliks, turtles

Abstract

Neogene (Siwalik-aged) deposits from India and Pakistan have yielded many vertebrate fossils, of which most were named during the 19th century, including numerous geoemydid turtles. In contrast to many other faunal components from the Siwaliks, geoemydids have not undergone taxonomic revision for more than a century and most fossils have therefore been believed to correspond to recent taxa. In this study, we conduct a taxonomic revision of all previously described geoemydid material from the Siwalik-age. We propose that all specimens of ‘Clemmys’ from the Siwaliks of Punjab, Pakistan should be identified as Melanochelys sivalensis comb. nov.; that Melanochelys tricarinata var. sivalensis represents a valid species, for which we propose the replacement name Melanochelys tapani to avoid homonymy; that specimens originally identified as Batagur cautleyi and Pangshura flaviventer cannot be identified beyond the generic level; and that many fragmentary palatochelydians cannot be identified to any particular species or genus due to the lack of preserved diagnostic osteological characters. With a few exceptions, the Siwalik fauna mostly corresponds in its distribution to that of the recent fauna, indicating a certain amount of geographic stasis. However, as the stratigraphic provenance of most material is poor, it is not possible to discern meaningful temporal patterns.

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Published
2020-05-26
How to Cite
Garbin, R. C., Bandyopadhyay, S., & Joyce, W. G. (2020). A taxonomic revision of geoemydid turtles from Siwalik-age of India and Pakistan. European Journal of Taxonomy, (652). https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2020.652
Issue
No. 652 (2020): A taxonomic revision of geoemydid turtles from Siwalik-age of India and Pakistan
Section
Palaeontology

Copyright (c) 2020 Rafaella C. Garbin, Saswati Bandyopadhyay, Walter G. Joyce

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