Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand abstracts

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A new species of the fossil turtle Psephophorus (Order Testudines) from the Eocene of the South Island, New Zealand.

R. Köhler *

Until now the genus Psephophorus has been known only from Tertiary sediments in Europe, Egypt and the United States. Five specimens from mid Eocene sediments near Waimate (South Canterbury) and one specimen from near Dunedin (Otago) comprise the only such records for the Southern Hemisphere, and are also among the oldest records worldwide. The differences between the New Zealand material and described species of Psephophorus are justification for the naming of the new species, Psephophorus terrypratchetti.

Keywords: Order Testudines, Family Dermochelyidae, Southern Hemisphere, New Zealand, Eocene.

(c) Journal of The Royal Society of New Zealand,

Volume 25, Number 3, September 1995, pp 371-384

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (3108K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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