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New sea turtle from the Miocene of Peru and the iterative evolution of feeding ecomorphologies since the Cretaceous

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

James F. Parham  and
Nicholas D. Pyenson
James F. Parham
Affiliation:
1Biodiversity Synthesis Center, Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605, USA 2Department of Herpetology, California Academy of Sciences, 55 Concourse Drive, San Francisco 94118, USA
Nicholas D. Pyenson
Affiliation:
3Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, #2370-6270 University Boulevard, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada 5Current address: Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, MRC 121, P.O. Box 37012, Washington DC 20013—7012, USA
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Abstract

The seven species of extant sea turtles show a diversity of diets and feeding specializations. Some of these species represent distinctive ecomorphs that can be recognized by osteological characters and therefore can be identified in fossil taxa. Specifically, modifications to the feeding apparatus for shearing or crushing (durophagy) are easily recognizable in the cranium and jaw. New sea turtle fossils from the Miocene of Peru, described as a new genus and species (Pacifichelys urbinai n. gen. and n. sp.), correspond to the durophagous ecomorph. This new taxon is closely related to a recently described sea turtle from the middle Miocene of California, USA (Pacifichelys hutchisoni n. comb.), providing additional information on the osteological characters of this lineage. A phylogenetic analysis of Pacifichelys and other pan-chelonioid sea turtle lineages shows that at least seven lineages independently evolved feeding specialized for shearing or crushing. the iterative evolution of these morphologies is plausibly linked to ecological factors such as the development of seagrass communities and the opening of niches through extinction that occurred from the Cretaceous to the Miocene.

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Research Article
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Journal of Paleontology , Volume 84 , Issue 2 , March 2010 , pp. 231 - 247
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Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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