*** Welcome to piglix ***

Protostega

Protostega
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 83.5 Ma
Protostega Gigas.jpg
Mounted skeleton
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Clade: Americhelydia
Family: Protostegidae
Genus: Protostega
Cope, 1872
Type species
Protostega gigas
Cope, 1872

Protostega ('first roof') is an extinct genus of marine turtle containing a single species, Protostega gigas. Its fossil remains have been found in the Smoky Hill Chalk formation of western Kansas (Hesperornis zone, dated to 83.5 million years ago) and time-equivalent beds of the Mooreville Chalk Formation of Alabama. Fossil specimens of this species were first collected in 1871, and named by Edward Drinker Cope in 1872. With a length of 3 metres (9.8 ft), it is the second-largest sea turtle that ever lived, second only to the giant Archelon, and the third-largest turtle of all time behind Archelon and Stupendemys.




...
Wikipedia

...