Ornithopsis Chelonia and a Tooth Of
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Downloaded from http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/ at Memorial University of Newfoundland on July 7, 2014 Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society On Remains of Eocene and Mesozoic Chelonia and a Tooth of (?) Ornithopsis R. Lydekker Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society 1889, v.45; p227-246. doi: 10.1144/GSL.JGS.1889.045.01-04.16 Email alerting click here to receive free service e-mail alerts when new articles cite this article Permission click here to seek permission request to re-use all or part of this article Subscribe click here to subscribe to Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society or the Lyell Collection Notes © The Geological Society of London 2014 Downloaded from http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/ at Memorial University of Newfoundland on July 7, 2014 ON REMAINS OF CHELO.~IA A~) A TOOTh 0~' (?) OR~THOPSlS. 20-7 14. On R~MAIxs o] EocE.~ a~,d MESOZOIC CHELO.~ a~,d a TooTa of (?)Om~I~oesIs. By'R. LYDSXKER, ESq., B.A., F.G.S. (Read January 23, 1889.) [PLATE VIII.] Iatrod~ctory. THE greater portion of the present communication is devoted to the consideration of Chelonia, and more especially to specimens from the Cambridge Greensand, most of which were collected nearly twenty years ago by my college friend Mr. T. Jesson, F.G.S., of Northampton. It includes, however, the description of an interesting Chelonian from tl~e Wealden, kindly lent to me by the Rev. P. B. Brodie ; and also makes certain redeterminations as to the affinities and serial position of some of the marine Chelonians of the London Clay. The tooth from the Wealden referred to Ornithopsis leads to the consideration of the affinities of some allied specimens trom the Portlandian of France. 1. The Genus Rhinochelys, of the Cambridge Greensand. The name ~hinochdys was applied in 1869 by Prof. H. G. Seeley* to the Chelonian cranium from the Cambridge Greensand figured by Sir R. Owen in his ' Cretaceous Reptilia' (Men. Pal. Soc.), pt. i. pl. vii. A, figs. 1-3 (1851), under the name of Chelo~,e pulchrice_ps, of which species it is the type. The distinctive features of this cranium, as shown by the figure, are that the pterygoids, which are in contact throughout their length, are comparatively narrow and emarginate, and that {he palatines unite in the median line. There are, more- over, distinct nasals, the prefrontals being separated from one another by the nasals and frontals. Again, the temporal foss~e are completely roofed over, after a manner now obtaining only in the Chelonidm--- that is to say, there is both an inferior and a superior temporal arcade ; the postfrontal articulates by a long suture with the parietal ; and it seems, judging fl'om other specimens, that the squamosal may have joined the parietal to ~orm a parieto-squamosal or post- temporal bar. The whole of the tympanic area is not shown, but it appears that the tympanic ring was velT largely ossified, although perhaps open inferiorly, and that, as in the Chelonid~e, the quadrato- jugal entered into the formation of this ring. Other specimens seem to show that the auditory labyrinth was completely open posteriorly, after the Pleurodiran manner. Further, there is no flooring of the narial passage, and the oral surface of the palate has a prominent ridge on either side. In establishing the genus Rhinochelys, Prof. Seeley pointed out that it could not belong to the Chelonids% observing that " it is Emydian in its affinities, and well characterized by having the nasal and pre- * ' Index to Ayes &c. in Cambridge Museum,' p. 25. Downloaded from http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/ at Memorial University of Newfoundland on July 7, 2014 ~8 MR. R. LYDEKKER ON I~EM/~INS OF E0C 'F_~N'E AI~D MESOZOIC frontal distinct ; by the posterior nares being formed by the maxillary and palatine bones, and divided by the whole length of the vomer, which extends on the palate hetween the palatine and premaxillary bones ; and by the temporal region being covered by an arrangement of bones like that in Chelone." This description differs from Owen's figure by the introduction of the vomer, which is not shown in the latter. Although I have not seen specimens showing the presence of the vomer, I take it, on theoretical grounds, that this element was probably present. There is unfortunately a little ambiguity in the expression employed by Prof. Seeley as to the vomer extending between the palatines and the premaxill0e, as this might mean separating the two palatines from one another; I take it, however, from the evidence of Owen's figure, that it is intended to mean that the vomer connects the palatines with the premaxill~. In 1873 Prof. S. Riitimeyer,who appears to have beenunacquainted with the name Rhi~wchelys, on pp. 148-150 of his ' Fossile Schild- krJten yon Solothurn,' came to the conclt~sion that the skull of Chelone" p~dchriceps showed, on the whole, more affinities with the Chelydidm than with any other family, and concluded that this form probably indicated a Pleurodiran. With this conclusion I am disposed to agree, since, if we put aside the alleged occurrence of separate nasals in the so-called Euclastes, l he only existing Chelonians having distinct nasals are the Chelydidm ; while, with the exception of the Trionychoidea, it is only among the Pelomedusidm that we find the palatines uniting in the middle line. The anterior portion of the palate of.Rhi~wchelys has, indeed, the same relations of the bones surrounding the posterior nares as in the existing Pelomedusa*, with the exception that in the latter the vomer is absent. It is true that the palatines of .Rhi~wchelys are much nar- rower than in any recent Pleurodiran, and are thereby of a Crypto- diran type ; while the complete roofing over of the temporal fossm is not found in any recent Pleurodira, the roof found in Podocnemis being of a totally different structure. I am, however, disposed to consider that the extremely wide pteD'goids of existing Pleurodirans, together with the remarkable structure of the tympanic ring and the mandibular articulation, are characters more or less recently acquired ; while the complete bony roof of Rhinochely.~ I look upon as an archaic character, since it occurs in many of the Jurassic Chelonians, some of which, like Eurysternum, are Cryptodiran, while others, like Idio- c]telys, are probably Pleurodiran. Remnants of this roof are, I think, to be found in the parieto-squamosal bar of many Chelydid~e. My reasons for regarding the broad pterygoids of recent Pleurodirans as an acquired character is that all Jurassic Chelonian skulls with which we are acquainted have more or less narrow pterygoids, and it is practically certain that some of these are Pleurodiran. This is well shown in the skull figured in pl. xiv. figs. 1, 2, of the above-cited memoir of Prof. Riitimeyer, which is referred with considerable pro- bability to Plesiochelys. In that skull the vomer divides the palatines, See Boulenger, ' Catalogue of Chelonians &e. in the British Museum,' p. 198, ~g 48 0889). Downloaded from http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/ at Memorial University of Newfoundland on July 7, 2014 CHE~.0N~A Am A ~00~H OF (?) O~XI~0PSIS. 229 and there are no distinct nasals, but we have the same complete roofing of the temporal foss,'e. Similar features are presented by the skull figured in the ' Palmontographica,' vol. xxv. pl. xvii. figs. 11, 12, as Chelonides (a preoccupied name), where the p'alatines are in con- tack. An example of another skull which may possibly belong to this generalized t'leurodiran type is the large one from the Port- landian, described by Sir R. 0wen in the 'Rep. Brit. Assoc.' for 1841, p. 168, and figured in his 'History of British :Fossil :Reptiles,' vol. i. Chelonia, pl. viii. figs. 1-3, as Chelone lda~dce2s. This skull differs from the one referred to Plesiochelys by its distinct nasals, and from that of tUdnod, dys by the meeting of the prefrontals in a median suture, as well as by the deep notch below the j ugal, and the separation of the squamosal from the parietal. This skull, [ propose, shc.uld be provisionally known by the generic name of Stego- chel!/s until it can be identified with a genus founded on the shell. With regard to its distribution in time, a cranium in the British ]k[useum (h~o. R. 27) indicates the occurrence of ]lhinochelys in the Chalk Marl ; while other specimens in the same collection show that it also extended downwards to the Gault. Before proceeding to describe the species of I~hinochelys, reference may be made to fragments of' Chelonian skulls characterized by their pustulate exterior, which are of very common occurrence in the Cambridge Greensand, and to which Prof. Sceley * has applied the name 15"achyderrnochelys, but without attempting to show any justi- fication for generically distinguishing them from l~hinochelys. Primd facie there is, indeed, ever)" probability that these specimens do belong to that genus, as being the commonest Chelonian in the beds in question, and apparently the only one not referable to the Chelonidm. Specimens in Mr. Jesson's collection indicate that the carapace to which these fragments belonged had an expanded and evertcd border, as in many existing Pleurodira ; while the pustulation of the exterior is only an exaggeration of a feature found in the living Pleurodiran genus Chelodina. I only put forward this view as a suggestion ; but I may add that some further evidence pointing to the Pleurodiran affinity of tthinochelys is afforded by a small cervical vertebra from the Cambridge Grecnsand, sent me by Mr.