Redescription of the soft-shell turtle Rafetus bohemicus (Testudines, Trionychidae) from the Early Miocene of Czechia

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Authors

CHROUST Milan MAZUCH Martin IVANOV Martin ALBA David M. HERNÁNDEZ LUJÁN Ángel

Year of publication 2023
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source PeerJ
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Science

Citation
Web https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.15658
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.15658
Keywords Trionyx; Rafetus; Bohemia; Most Basin; Brest'any; Burdigalian; Trionychinae; Czech Republic
Description The taxonomy of the soft-shell turtle Rafetus bohemicus (Liebus, 1930), family Trionychidae, subfamily Trionychinae, is revised based on new and previously mentioned material (including the type material) from the Early Miocene (Burdigalian, MN 3) sites of the Most Basin, Czechia. Given that the diagnosis was so far based only on plastral elements, here we focused on the cranial material and combined our study with previously published data on postcranial elements. 3D models of the skulls derived from CT scans allow us to provide the first complete skull description of R. bohemicus, including several new cranial diagnostic characters of the species. Our results not only enable the distinction of the trionychid genera Trionyx and Rafetus, both recorded from Central Europe during the Early Miocene, but further allow us to provide an emended diagnosis for R. bohemicus. We confirm the conclusions of a previous study according to which Trionyx pontanus, T. preschenensis, T. aspidiformis, and T. elongatus are nomina dubia. R. bohemicus from Brest'any (MN 3) represents the oldest record of this genus in Europe as well as the oldest occurrence of the genus.
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