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Novitates PUBLISHED by the AMERICAN MUSEUM of NATURAL HISTORY CENTRAL PARK WEST at 79TH STREET, NEW YORK, N.Y

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Novitates PUBLISHED by the AMERICAN MUSEUM of NATURAL HISTORY CENTRAL PARK WEST at 79TH STREET, NEW YORK, N.Y AMERICAN MUSEUM Novitates PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY CENTRAL PARK WEST AT 79TH STREET, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10024 Number 2639, pp. 1-12, figs. 1-8 November 3, 1977 An Endocranial Cast of the Side-Necked Turtle, Bothremys, With a New Reconstruction of the Palate EUGENE S. GAFFNEY' ABSTRACT A natural endocast of the skull of Bothremys, cavities as well as the brain cavity. The endocast a pelomedusid pleurodire from the Late Cre- provides new information on the basicranium, as taceous (Magothy Formation of Cliffwood Beach, well as the orbital and nasal cavities, and allows New Jersey) is unusual in preserving the orbital comparison with Recent pelomedusids. INTRODUCTION The Cretaceous pleurodire, Bothremys, is (see Edinger, 1929, for a review), there are very known from a series of shells and two skulls, few reported for turtles. Furthermore, this endo- described and figured in Gaffney and Zangerl cast preserves high quality representations of the (1968, see also references to previous work on orbital and nasal cavities as well as the basi- this genus). Subsequent to the publication of cranium. The only natural turtle endocast re- that paper another specimen referable to Both- ported in the literature is that of a presumed sea remys has come to my attention and I have turtle (Edinger, 1934). In this specimen, from developed a new reconstruction of the palate. the Cretaceous of Europe, the cavum cranii and The purpose of the present paper is to give the adductor chambers are preserved with some indi- description of the new Bothremys specimen. The cations of the orbits. Artificially made endocasts relationships of Bothremys lie with the pelo- of turtles are reported by Edinger (1929), Zan- medusid pleurodires (ibid.) and a study of this gerl (1960), and Gaffney and Zangerl (1968). group is deferred to the future. The new Bothremys endocast comes from the The specimen described here is unique and Cretaceous coastal plain sediments of New Jersey unusual in the manner, as well as the taxon, and is preserved in a manner that seems to be preserved. The fossil consists of the infilling of a typical of invertebrate fossils from certain litho- skull by limonitic sandstone forming a natural logic units in this region. Unfortunately, there is cast of the internal cranial morphology. Al- little available information on the process of though fossil "brains" are not particularly rare steinkern formation and I am unable to advance 'Associate Curator, Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, the American Museum of Natural History; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, Columbia University. Copyright © The American Museum of Natural History 1977 ISSN 0003-0082 / Price $1.00 AMERICAN MUSEUM Novitates PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY CENTRAL PARK WEST AT 79TH STREET, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10024 Number 2639, pp. 1-12, figs. 1-8 November 3, 1977 An Endocranial Cast of the Side-Necked Turtle, Bothremys, With a New Reconstruction of the Palate EUGENE S. GAFFNEY' ABSTRACT A natural endocast of the skull of Bothremys, cavities as well as the brain cavity. The endocast a pelomedusid pleurodire from the Late Cre- provides new information on the basicranium, as taceous (Magothy Formation of Cliffwood Beach, well as the orbital and nasal cavities, and allows New Jersey) is unusual in preserving the orbital comparison with Recent pelomedusids. INTRODUCTION The Cretaceous pleurodire, Bothremys, is (see Edinger, 1929, for a review), there are very known from a series of shells and two skulls, few reported for turtles. Furthermore, this endo- described and figured in Gaffney and Zangerl cast preserves high quality representations of the (1968, see also references to previous work on orbital and nasal cavities as well as the basi- this genus). Subsequent to the publication of cranium. The only natural turtle endocast re- that paper another specimen referable to Both- ported in the literature is that of a presumed sea remys has come to my attention and I have turtle (Edinger, 1934). In this specimen, from developed a new reconstruction of the palate. the Cretaceous of Europe, the cavum cranii and The purpose of the present paper is to give the adductor chambers are preserved with some indi- description of the new Bothremys specimen. The cations of the orbits. Artificially made endocasts relationships of Bothremys lie with the pelo- of turtles are reported by Edinger (1929), Zan- medusid pleurodires (ibid.) and a study of this gerl (1960), and Gaffney and Zangerl (1968). group is deferred to the future. The new Bothremys endocast comes from the The specimen described here is unique and Cretaceous coastal plain sediments of New Jersey unusual in the manner, as well as the taxon, and is preserved in a manner that seems to be preserved. The fossil consists of the infilling of a typical of invertebrate fossils from certain litho- skull by limonitic sandstone forming a natural logic units in this region. Unfortunately, there is cast of the internal cranial morphology. Al- little available information on the process of though fossil "brains" are not particularly rare steinkern formation and I am unable to advance 'Associate Curator, Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, the American Museum of Natural History; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, Columbia University. Copyright © The American Museum of Natural History 1977 ISSN 0003-0082 / Price $1.00 AMERICAN MUSEUM Novitates PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY CENTRAL PARK WEST AT 79TH STREET, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10024 Number 2639, pp. 1-12, figs. 1-8 November 3, 1977 An Endocranial Cast of the Side-Necked Turtle, Bothremys, With a New Reconstruction of the Palate EUGENE S. GAFFNEY' ABSTRACT A natural endocast of the skull of Bothremys, cavities as well as the brain cavity. The endocast a pelomedusid pleurodire from the Late Cre- provides new information on the basicranium, as taceous (Magothy Formation of Cliffwood Beach, well as the orbital and nasal cavities, and allows New Jersey) is unusual in preserving the orbital comparison with Recent pelomedusids. INTRODUCTION The Cretaceous pleurodire, Bothremys, is (see Edinger, 1929, for a review), there are very known from a series of shells and two skulls, few reported for turtles. Furthermore, this endo- described and figured in Gaffney and Zangerl cast preserves high quality representations of the (1968, see also references to previous work on orbital and nasal cavities as well as the basi- this genus). Subsequent to the publication of cranium. The only natural turtle endocast re- that paper another specimen referable to Both- ported in the literature is that of a presumed sea remys has come to my attention and I have turtle (Edinger, 1934). In this specimen, from developed a new reconstruction of the palate. the Cretaceous of Europe, the cavum cranii and The purpose of the present paper is to give the adductor chambers are preserved with some indi- description of the new Bothremys specimen. The cations of the orbits. Artificially made endocasts relationships of Bothremys lie with the pelo- of turtles are reported by Edinger (1929), Zan- medusid pleurodires (ibid.) and a study of this gerl (1960), and Gaffney and Zangerl (1968). group is deferred to the future. The new Bothremys endocast comes from the The specimen described here is unique and Cretaceous coastal plain sediments of New Jersey unusual in the manner, as well as the taxon, and is preserved in a manner that seems to be preserved. The fossil consists of the infilling of a typical of invertebrate fossils from certain litho- skull by limonitic sandstone forming a natural logic units in this region. Unfortunately, there is cast of the internal cranial morphology. Al- little available information on the process of though fossil "brains" are not particularly rare steinkern formation and I am unable to advance 'Associate Curator, Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, the American Museum of Natural History; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, Columbia University. Copyright © The American Museum of Natural History 1977 ISSN 0003-0082 / Price $1.00 2 AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES NO. 2639 any useful hypotheses about the taphonomy of ABBREVIATIONS the endocast. The rock forming the endocast is a relatively coarse-grained, quartz sandstone with INSTITUTIONS limonitic cement. Limonite formation seems to AMNH[H], Department of Herpetology, the have been concentrated on the bone surfaces American Museum of Natural History resulting in a very high fidelity image of the bone FMNH, Field Museum of Natural History morphology. Sutures, foramina, and impressions PU, Princeton University of vessels are all preserved in the endocast. The ANATOMICAL sandstone has not been analyzed petrographically but it does seem to contain a high percentage of ang, angular wood and plant fragments. The dorsal surface of art, articular bo, basioccipital the orbital cavities and the cavum cranii shows bs, basisphenoid the impressions of elongated lumps, possibly cor, coronoid representing some sort of invertebrate fecal mat- dent, dentary ter. epi, epipterygoid The Bothremys endocast has had an interest- ex, exoccipital ing scientific history. It was "found loose on the fr, frontal beach at Cliffwood, New Jersey, by C. J. Adami, ju, jugal Princeton '26, on May 28th, 1926" (label). It mx, maxilla was identified as a brain cast of a gavial and a na, nasal sketch (possibly by W. J. Sinclair) accompanying op, opisthotic pa, panetal the specimen shows that the endocast was re- pal, palatine versed with the foramen magnum identified as pf, prefrontal the nasal area and the orbits as pterygoid bullae. pm, premaxilla Later, the endocast became part of the Princeton po, postorbital Geology Museum "What is a Fossil?" display and pr, prootic remained there for some time. Recently, Dr. pra, prearticular Donald Baird, Director of the Museum, reori- pt, pterygoid ented the specimen and discovered that the qi, quadratojugal "bullae" were orbital infillings.
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