A reassessment of the referral of sea turtle skulls to the genus Osteopygis (Late Cretaceous, New Jersey, USA)
Specimens referred to Osteopygis (Late Cretaceous-Paleocene, North America) represent a chimera, a polyphyletic mixture of taxa. The holotype of Osteopygis (AMNH 1485) and more complete referred postcranial specimens resemble non-marine stem cryptodires (“macrobacnids”). Because the skull material historically referred to Osteopygis shares synapomorphies with chelomid sea turtles, all current workers accept Osteopygis as a stem-cheloniid… [Read More]