Kinosternoidea

Kinosternoidea
Common musk turtle a species of the Kinosternoidea superfamily
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Clade: Polycryptodira
Superfamily: Kinosternoidea
Joyce, Parham, and Gauthier 2004[1]
Families

Kinosternoidea is a superfamily of aquatic turtles, which included two families: Dermatemydidae, and Kinosternidae.

These are nowadays usually considered independent families of the Trionychia, among which they represent very plesiomorphic members which share a few peculiarly advanced traits. These apomorphies coupled with the overall "primitiveness" was what mislead scientists as to their actual relationships.

Classification

Main article: Turtle classification

Past classification

The entirely unrelated big-headed turtle (Platysternon megacephalum) was previously included in classification.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Rhodin 2011, pp. 000.171-176
  2. 1 2 3 Walter G. Joyce (2007) "Phylogenetic Relationships of Mesozoic Turtles" Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History
Bibliography
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