Turtles from Western Kansas and
Oklahoma
University of Kansas Publications
Museum of Natural History
Volume 1, No. 17, pp. 281-284
August 16, 1948
University of Kansas
1948
Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman; H. H. Lane, Edward H. Taylor
Volume 1, No. 17, pp. 281-284
August 16, 1948
University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
FERD VOILAND, JR., STATE PRINTER
TOPEKA, KANSAS
1948
22-3341
In the vertebrate paleontological collection at the University ofKansas Museum of Natural History there are many fragments ofturtles that have been collected, generally in connection with theexcavation or recovery of other fossils. The generic identificationof this material is possible in many instances, and such identificationsgive new and important geological and distributional recordsfor genera in existence today.
All catalogue numbers refer to the vertebrate paleontological collectionin the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History.
Kinosternon sp. No. 7729 consists of fragments of marginals,costals, and plastronal elements collected from Edson Quarry, ShermanCounty, Kansas. The age is middle Pliocene (Hemphillian).No. 7679, consisting of a nuchal, and fragments of marginals, costals,and neurals is from Nye Sink, XI Ranch, Meade County, Kansas,and is of Pleistocene age.
Any fossil record of Kinosternon is a welcome find, and these twospecimens give new data both as to age and distribution. However,it should be emphasized that these identifications are based on fragments,and are tentative.
Pseudemys sp. No. 5613, Sherman County; 6784, SewardCounty; and 4728, Meade County, are three of many fragments,mainly elements of the nuchal plate and plastron, that were collectedfrom Edson Quarry, Sherman County, Kansas, and from middle andlate Pliocene beds in Seward and Meade counties, Kansas, respectively.The species represented cannot be differentiated from speciesof Pseudemys living today. Species of Pseudemys are common alsoin most of the Pleistocene deposits of western Kansas.
Testudo sp. In general, two recognizable lines of the genusTestudo existed in western Kansas during early Pliocene to mid-Pleistocenetime—a line of large testudinates with a carapace three[Pg 284]to four feet long, and one line of smaller t