Glyptops is an extinct genus of pleurosternid freshwater turtle known from the Late Jurassic of North America.

Glyptops
Temporal range: Tithonian
Skull and shell of Glyptops ornatus, and shell of Adocus punctatus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Pantestudines
Clade: Testudinata
Clade: Paracryptodira
Family: Pleurosternidae
Genus: Glyptops
Marsh, 1890
Species
  • Glyptops ornatus Marsh, 1890
Synonyms
  • Glyptops utahensis Gaffney 1979
  • Glyptops plicatulus Cope, 1877

Taxonomy

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The type species, Glyptops plicatulus, was first described as Compsemys plicatulus by Edward Drinker Cope on the basis of AMNH 6099, a partial shell from the Late Jurassic (Tithonian) aged Morrison Formation of Colorado.[1] In 1890, a partial skull, YPM 1784 (described from Como Bluff, Wyoming), was named Glyptops ornatus by Othniel Charles Marsh.[2] Later, Oliver Perry Hay recognized Compsemys plicatulus and Glyptops ornatus as being from the same species, hence the new combination G. plicatulus.[3] Another Morrison species of Glyptops, G. utahensis, was described from a complete shell (CM 3412) found at Dinosaur National Monument in Utah.[4] Glyptops later became a wastebasket taxon to refer to isolated shell fragments with a finely sculpted surface texture. The type of Glyptops plicatulus was later judged to be a nomen dubium, due to it lacking any diagnostic characters, and Glyptops ornatus was made to be the only valid species.[5]

The species Glytops caelatus Hay, 1908 was described from the middle Cretaceous (late Aptian-early Albian) Arundel Formation of Maryland. However, it was later dismissed as a nomen dubium based on non-diagnostic remains.[6]

Description

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The skull of Glyptops ornatus exhibit adaptions likely for suction feeding.[5]

References

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  1. ^ E. D. Cope. 1877. On reptilian remains from the Dakota Beds of Colorado. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 17(100):193-196
  2. ^ O. C. Marsh. 1890. Notice of some extinct Testudinata. The American Journal of Science and Arts, series 3 40:177-179
  3. ^ O. P. Hay. 1908. The fossil turtles of North America. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 75:1-568.
  4. ^ C. W. Gilmore. 1916. Description of a new species of tortoise from the Jurassic of Utah. Annals of Carnegie Museum 10(1-2):7-12.
  5. ^ a b Joyce, Walter G.; Anquetin, Jérémy (October 2019). "A Review of the Fossil Record of Nonbaenid Turtles of the Clade Paracryptodira". Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 60 (2): 129–155. doi:10.3374/014.060.0204. ISSN 0079-032X. S2CID 203780510.
  6. ^ E. S. Gaffney. 1979. The Jurassic turtles of North America. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 162(3):95-135