The first fossil record of Kinosternon turtles in South America, from the late Pleistocene (16500 years before present) at the Pubenza locality, Department of Cundinamarca, in the Bogotá River basin of Colombia is described. The fossil material is composed of an epiplastron, a hypoplastron, a peripheral, two costals, and a neural bone, which suggest an affinity to the Kinosterninae subfamily based upon the absence of an entoplastron and an abdominal scale. The presence of a hinge in the anterior and posterior plastral lobe and a large epiplastron longer than wide indicate an affinity to the genus Kinosternon. The presence of a marked scar for the insertion of the cervico-plastral ligament on the visceral surface of the epiplastron indicates a close relationship to Kinosternon leucostomum and Kinosternon scorpioides. More shell and cranial material must be found in order to define precisely if the Kinosternon of Pubenza corresponds to some extant species, or if it is a new extinct species.
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1 December 2007
The First Late Pleistocene Record Of Kinosternon (Cryptodira: Kinosternidae) Turtles For Northern South America, Pubenza Locality, Colombia
Edwin R. Cadena,
Carlos M. Jaramillo,
María Paramo
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South American Journal of Herpetology
Vol. 2 • No. 3
December 2007
Vol. 2 • No. 3
December 2007
Colombia
Kinosternidae
Kinosternon
Late Pleistocene