Learning Center What is a mineral?The most common minerals on earth Information for Educators Mindat Articles The Elements The Rock H. Currier Digital Library Geologic Time

Minerals by Properties Minerals by Chemistry Advanced Locality Search Random Mineral Random Locality Search by minID Localities Near Me Search Articles Search Glossary More Search Options

The Mindat Manual Add a New Photo Rate Photos Locality Edit Report Coordinate Completion Report Add Glossary Item

Mining Companies Statistics Users Mineral Museums Clubs & Organizations Mineral Shows & Events The Mindat Directory Device Settings The Mineral Quiz

Photo Search Photo Galleries Search by Color New Photos Today New Photos Yesterday Members' Photo Galleries Past Photo of the Day Gallery Photography

BETA TEST - Fossil data and pages are very much experimental and under development. Please report any problems

Axestemys

Photos

Photo Gallery

Description

Axestemys is an extinct genus of softshell turtle that lived from the Late Cretaceous to the Eocene in western North America and Europe.

From Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axestemys, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Source Data

Source	ID	Link
Global Biodiversity Information Facility ID (GBIF)	4965204	https://www.gbif.org/species/4965204
PaleoBioDB ID (PBDB)	67300	https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=67300

Rank

genus

Taxonomy (GBIF,PBDB)

Life : Animalia : Chordata : Reptilia : Testudines : Trionychidae : Axestemys

Taxonomic Status (GBIF)

accepted

Classification
(PBDB,GBIF)

Rank	Name	Author
-	Eukaryota
-	Opisthokonta	Cavalier-Smith 1987
kingdom	Animalia
-	Triploblastica	Lankester 1877
-	Nephrozoa	Jondelius et al. 2002
-	Deuterostomia	Grobben 1908
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1847
subphylum	Vertebrata	Lamarck 1801
superclass	Gnathostomata	Gegenbauer 1874
-	Osteichthyes
-	Sarcopterygii	Romer 1955
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha
-	Tetrapoda
-	Reptiliomorpha	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Anthracosauria	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Batrachosauria
-	Cotylosauria
-	Amniota	Haeckel 1866
-	Sauropsida	Huxley 1864
class	Reptilia	Laurenti 1768
-	Testudinata
order	Testudines	Batsch 1788
family	Trionychidae	Gray 1825
-	Trionychinae	Gray 1825
genus	Axestemys	Cope 1872

Scientific Name

Axestemys Cope, 1872

Opinions (PBDB)

Name	Rank	Opinion	Evidence	Author
Axestemys	genus	belongs to Trionychidae	stated without evidence	Hay, 1899
Axestemys	genus	belongs to Trionychidae	stated with evidence	Hay, 1908
Axestemys	genus	belongs to Trionychidae	stated without evidence	Hutchison, 1992
Axestemys	subgenus	belongs to Rafetus	stated without evidence	Chkhikvadze, 2000
Axestemys	genus	belongs to Trionychinae	stated with evidence	Hutchison and Holroyd, 2003
Axestemys	genus	belongs to Pantrionychidae	stated with evidence	Vitek and Joyce, 2015
Axestemys	genus	belongs to Trionychidae	stated without evidence	Lichtig and Lucas, 2015
Axestemys	genus	belongs to Pantrionychidae	stated with evidence	Georgalis and Joyce, 2017
Axestemys	genus	belongs to Trionychinae	stated with evidence	Joyce et al., 2019

Status (PBDB)

extant

Taxon Size (PBDB)

Extant Size (PBDB)

1 (9.1%)

First Recorded Appearance

83.6 - 72.1 Ma
Late/Upper Cretaceous

Environment

brackish,freshwater (based on Trionychidae)

Motility

actively mobile (based on Trionychidae)

Diet

piscivore, carnivore (based on Trionychidae)

Reproduction

oviparous (based on Trionychidae)

Taphonomy

phosphatic (based on Vertebrata)

Primary Reference (PBDB)

O. P. Hay. 1899. On the nomenclature of certain American fossil vertebrates. The American Geologist 24:345-349

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axestemys

Fossil Distribution

Subtaxa

Name	Status	Common Name(s)	Fossil Occurrences	Oldest	Youngest
Axestemys byssina ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		1	55.8 Ma Eocene	55.8 Ma Eocene
Axestemys byssinus ✝ species	listed (PBDB)		4	55.8 Ma Eocene	50.3 Ma Eocene
Axestemys cerevisia ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		1	50.3 Ma Eocene	50.3 Ma Eocene
Axestemys eloisae ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		1	66.0 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous	66.0 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous
Axestemys infernalis ✝ species	listed (PBDB)		9	72.1 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous	70.6 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous
Axestemys montinsana ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		4	66.0 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous	61.7 Ma Paleocene
Axestemys nelsoni species	accepted (GBIF)	No associated record in PBDB
Axestemys puercensis species	accepted (GBIF)	No associated record in PBDB
Axestemys quinni ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		1	58.7 Ma Paleocene	58.7 Ma Paleocene
Axestemys salebrosa species	accepted (GBIF)	No associated record in PBDB
Axestemys splendida species	accepted (GBIF)	No associated record in PBDB
Axestemys splendidus ✝ species	listed (PBDB)		9	83.6 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous	70.6 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous
Axestemys uintaensis species	accepted (GBIF)	No associated record in PBDB
Axestemys vittata ✝ species	listed (PBDB)		17	61.6 Ma Paleocene	23.0 Ma Miocene
Rafetus (Axestemys) exquisitus ✝ species	listed (PBDB)
Rafetus (Axestemys) nelsoni ✝ species	listed (PBDB)

Synonymy List

Year	Name and Author
1871	Axestus Cope p. 462
1884	Axestus Cope
1899	Axestemys Hay p. 348
1902	Axestemys Hay p. 455
1908	Axestemys Hay p. 508
1970	Eurycephalochelys Moody and Walker p. 50 figs. Plate 102, Figs. 1-5
1988	Eurycephalochelys Carroll
1992	Axestemys Hutchison

Year	Name and Author
2000	Rafetus (Axestemys) Chkhikvadze
2003	Axestemys Hutchison and Holroyd
2012	Axestemys Vitek p. 4
2015	Axestemys Lichtig and Lucas
2015	Axestemys Vitek and Joyce
2017	Axestemys Georgalis and Joyce
2019	Axestemys Joyce et al.

References

Hay O. P. On the nomenclature of certain American fossil vertebrates, The American Geologist 24, 345-349

Cope E. D. Descriptions of some new Vertebrata from the Bridger Group of the Eocene, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 12, 460-465

Cope E. D. Testudinata, The Vertebrata of the Tertiary formations of the West. In: Report of the United States Geological Survey of the Territories 3, 111-150

Hay O. P. (1902) , Bibliography and Catalogue of the Fossil Vertebrata of North America. Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey 179, 1-868

Hay O. P. (1908) The fossil turtles of North America, Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 75, 1-568

Moody R. T. J., Walker C. A. (1970) A new trionychid turtle from the British lower Eocene, Palaeontology 13 3, 503-510

Carroll R. L. (1988) , Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution, 1-698

Hutchison J. H. (1992) Western North American reptile and amphibian record across the Eocene/Oligocene boundary and its climatic implications, D. R. Prothero and W. A. Berggren (eds.), Eocene-Oligocene Climatic and Biotic Evolution, 451-463

Hutchison J. H., Holroyd P. A. (2003) Late Cretaceous and early Paleocene turtles of the Denver Basin, Colorado, Rocky Mountain Geology 38 1, 121-142

Vitek N. (2012) Giant fossil soft-shelled turtles of North America, Palaeontologia Electronica 15 1, 13A

Lichtig A. J., Lucas S. G. (2015) Paleocene-Eocene turtles of the Piceance Creek Basin, Colorado, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 67, 145-152

Vitek N. S., Joyce W. G. (2015) A Review of the Fossil Record of New World Turtles of the Clade Pan-Trionychidae, Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 56 2, 185-244

Georgalis G. L., Joyce W. G. (2017) A Review of the Fossil Record of Old World Turtles of the Clade Pan-Trionychidae, Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 58 1, 115-208 doi:10.3374/014.058.0106

Joyce W. J., Brinkman D. B., et al (2019) A new species of trionychid turtle, Axestemys infernalis sp. nov., from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Hell Creek and Lance formations of the Northern Great Plains, USA, Palaeontologia Electronica 22.3.72, 1-28 doi:10.26879/949

Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!

Quick NavTop Fossil Distribution Subtaxa Synonymy List References

Mindat.org is an outreach project of the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.
Copyright © mindat.org and the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy 1993-2024, except where stated. Most political location boundaries are © OpenStreetMap contributors. Mindat.org relies on the contributions of thousands of members and supporters. Founded in 2000 by Jolyon Ralph.
Privacy Policy - Terms & Conditions - Contact Us / DMCA issues - Report a bug/vulnerability Current server date and time: May 3, 2024 19:25:01

Go to top of page