Archelon
202104202104Archelon (†Archelon (Wieland, 1896))
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Superfamily: Testudinoidea
Family: †Protostegidae
Dimensions: up to 4.6 m lengths, weight - 2.2–3.2 t
Expansion: during the Late Cretaceous (80.21–74.21 Ma )
Archelon is an extinct marine turtle from the Late Cretaceous, and is the largest turtle ever to have been documented, with the biggest specimen measuring 4.6 m from head to tail and 2.2–3.2 t in body mass. The genus was named in 1895 by American paleontologist George Reber Wieland based on a skeleton from South Dakota, who placed it into the extinct family Protostegidae. Now, Protostegidae is thought to be a completely separate lineage from any living sea turtle.
Archelon had a leathery carapace instead of the hard shell seen in most sea turtles. The carapace may have featured a row of small ridges, each peaking at 2.5 or 5 cm in height. It had an especially hooked beak and its jaws were adept at crushing, so it probably ate hard-shelled crustaceans, mollusks, and possibly even sponges, while slowly moving over the seafloor. It also potentially consumed other animals, whilst swimming closer to the surface, like jellyfish, squid, or nautiloids. However, its beak may have been better-adapted for shearing flesh, with fish being another possible prey choice. With its large and strong foreflippers, Archelon was likely able to produce powerful strokes necessary for open-ocean travel and, if need be, escape from fellow marine predators. It inhabited the northern Western Interior Seaway, a mild to cool temperate area, dominated by plesiosaurs, hesperornithiform seabirds, and mosasaurs. It may have gone extinct due to the shrinking of the seaway, increased infant mortality rates (in the sea), higher instances of egg and hatchling predation (on land), and a rapidly cooling climate.
Archelon (†Archelon (Wieland, 1896))
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Superfamily: Testudinoidea
Family: †Protostegidae
Dimensions: up to 4.6 m lengths, weight - 2.2–3.2 t
Expansion: during the Late Cretaceous (80.21–74.21 Ma )
Archelon is an extinct marine turtle from the Late Cretaceous, and is the largest turtle ever to have been documented, with the biggest specimen measuring 4.6 m from head to tail and 2.2–3.2 t in body mass. The genus was named in 1895 by American paleontologist George Reber Wieland based on a skeleton from South Dakota, who placed it into the extinct family Protostegidae. Now, Protostegidae is thought to be a completely separate lineage from any living sea turtle.
Archelon had a leathery carapace instead of the hard shell seen in most sea turtles. The carapace may have featured a row of small ridges, each peaking at 2.5 or 5 cm in height. It had an especially hooked beak and its jaws were adept at crushing, so it probably ate hard-shelled crustaceans, mollusks, and possibly even sponges, while slowly moving over the seafloor. It also potentially consumed other animals, whilst swimming closer to the surface, like jellyfish, squid, or nautiloids. However, its beak may have been better-adapted for shearing flesh, with fish being another possible prey choice. With its large and strong foreflippers, Archelon was likely able to produce powerful strokes necessary for open-ocean travel and, if need be, escape from fellow marine predators. It inhabited the northern Western Interior Seaway, a mild to cool temperate area, dominated by plesiosaurs, hesperornithiform seabirds, and mosasaurs. It may have gone extinct due to the shrinking of the seaway, increased infant mortality rates (in the sea), higher instances of egg and hatchling predation (on land), and a rapidly cooling climate.
