Evolution of the Side-Necked Turtles: The Family Podocnemididae

The family Podocnemididae consists of 20 genera and 30 species considered here as valid and diagnosable by cranial characters. Three of these genera and eight species persist into the Recent fauna, barely reflecting the evolutionary diversity and distribution of the group. The family extends from the Late Cretaceous to the Recent and occurs in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. A phylogenetic analysis utilizes 31 podocnemidid taxa (30 named and one unnamed; a total of 37 taxa analyzed includes outgroups) in the Podocnemididae that are analyzed using PAUP. The resulting consensus of nine equally parsimonious cladograms is the basis for a new classification of the family. The family Podocnemididae is reconfirmed as monophyletic, using the unique possession of a cavum pterygoidei formed by the basisphenoid, pterygoid, prootic, and quadrate, underlain by the pterygoid and basisphenoid, among other characters. Much of our resolution agrees with that of Franca and Langer (2006), which c...