History of fossil turtles occurrences in Brazil

Abstract

Twenty two species of Brazilian fossil turtles were formally recognized until now. The oldest records are from Early Cretaceous of the Araripe Basin, namely: Araripemys barretoi Price, 1973 (Pelomedusoides, Araripemydidae), Santanachelys gaffneyi Hirayama, 1998 (Chelonioidea, Protostegidae), Brasilemys josai Broin, 2000 (Pelomedusoides, Brasilemydidae), Cearachelys placidoi Gaffney, Campos & Hirayama, 2001 (Pelomedusoides, Bothremydidae), and Araripemys arturi Fielding, Martill & Naish, 2005. From the Upper Cretaceous were named: Roxochelys harrisi (Pacheco, 1913) (Pelomedusoides, nomen dubium), Bauruemys brasiliensis (Staeche, 1937) (Pelomedusoides, incertae sedis), Roxochelys wanderleyi Price, 1953 (Pelomedusoides, ?Podocnemididae), Bauruemys elegans (Suárez, 1969) (Pelomedusoides, Podocnemididae), and Cambaremys langertoni França & Langer, 2005 (Pelomedusoides, Podocnemididae) all from the Bauru Basin; and Apodichelys lucianoi Price, 1954 (Pelomedusoides, incertae sedis) from the Potiguar Basin. The Amazonas Basin (Neogene) has yielded the following species: Chelus quaternarius (Rodrigues, 1891) (Chelidae, nomen dubium), C. macrococcygeanus (Rodrigues, 1892) (nomen dubium), C. lewisi Wood, 1976, C. colombianus Wood, 1976, Podocnemis bassleri Williams, 1956, Podocnemis negrii Carvalho, Bocquetin & Broin, 2002 (Pelomedusoides, Podocnemididae), and Stupendemys souzai Bocquentin & Melo, 2006 (Pelomedusoides, Podocnemididae). From the Taubaté Basin (Upper Oligocene-Lower Miocene) a several specimens of Phrynops geoffroanus (Schweigger, 1812) (Chelidae) has been recognized. From the Paraná Basin (Upper Pleistocene-Lower Holocene) have been recorded specimens of Phrynops hilarii (Duméril & Bibron, 1835), Hydromedusa tectifera Cope, 1869 (Chelidae), and Geochelone carbonaria (Spix, 1824) (Testudinidae). Besides these, fossil turtle remains have been found in five other basins (Parnaíba, São Luís, Paraná, Itaboraí, and Pernambuco-Paraíba) beyond record of Phrynops sp. in pleistocene rocks of the Gruta Curupira, Mato Grosso State. Here we summarize the history of the discoveries and discuss the taxonomic status of each species.