A detailed reconstruction of Leviathanochelys aenigmatica. Credit: ICRA_Arts.
According to a brand-new paper released in Scientific Reports, a just recently discovered types of ancient turtle in Spain may have been one of the largest marine turtles to ever live, with an estimated body length of up to 3.74 meters. This makes it the largest marine turtle discovered in Europe to date.
The biggest recognized marine turtles, such as the extinct genus Archelon, which could rise to 4.6 meters in length and weigh up to 3.2 lots, resided in the seas around North America during the Cretaceous period. No known European marine turtle, either extinct or living, has gone beyond a shell length of 1.5 meters.
Àngel H. Luján, Albert Sellés, and associates explain the remains of a new marine turtle specimen — which they call Leviathanochelys aenigmatica– discovered in the Cal Torrades region, Northeastern Spain, which appeared almost as big as Archelon. The remains, which were excavated between 2016 and 2021, include a practically total however fragmented pelvis and parts of the upper shell (carapace), and date to the Campanian Age, between 83.6 to 72.1 million years back.
This function differs from other marine turtles and suggests that Leviathanochelys represents a brand-new taxon (group) of ancient marine turtles. This makes Leviathanochelys the largest marine turtle ever found in Europe, and one of the largest discovered worldwide. These findings suggest that gigantism in marine turtles developed separately in various lineages in both North America and Europe, according to the authors.
The specimen has a distinct prominence of bone that extends forwards from the front of the pelvis. This function varies from other marine turtles and indicates that Leviathanochelys represents a new taxon (group) of ancient marine turtles. This protrusion may have been associated with the respiratory system, suggest the authors.
Based upon the size of the pelvis, the authors compute that Leviathanochelys could have reached a body length of up to 3.74 meters. They approximate that the maximum width of Leviathanochelys hips was 88.9 centimeters, which is somewhat bigger than the greatest price quotes for Archelons best-known specimen (81.0 cm large). The length of the pelvis from front to back was approximated to be 39.5 cm, slightly smaller sized than that of Archelon (46.0 cm long). This makes Leviathanochelys the biggest marine turtle ever discovered in Europe, and one of the biggest found worldwide. These findings indicate that gigantism in marine turtles developed individually in various family trees in both North America and Europe, according to the authors.
Reference: “A massive bizarre marine turtle (Testudines: Chelonioidea) from the Middle Campanian (Late Cretaceous) of South-western Europe” by Oscar Castillo-Visa, Àngel H. Luján, Àngel Galobart and Albert Sellés, 17 November 2022, Scientific Reports.DOI: 10.1038/ s41598-022-22619-w.