In Depth
Allopleuron was a large sea turtle that swam in the late Cretaceous seas and may have had a cosmopolitan distribution at least across the Northern Hemisphere. Several species have been named in the past but today some only consider the type species A. hofmanni as valid. With remains possibly being as late as the Eocene, it would seem that this genus of sea turtle managed to survive the KT extinction sixty-five million years ago that marked the end of many reptile genera not only including the dinosaurs and pterosaurs, but also other large marine reptiles like mosasaurs and plesiosaurs.
Further Reading
– The fossil reptiles (Reptilia: Chelonii, Crocodylia) from the marine early Oligocene of the Weisselster Basin (Central Germany: Saxonia). – HStudia Geologica Salamanticensia 43(1):25-66. – Hans-Volker Karl – 2007. – New materials of the giant sea turtle Allopleuron (Testudines: Chelonioidea) from the marine Late Cretaceous of Central Europe and the Palaeogene of Kazakhstan. – Stvdia Palaeocheloniologica IV, Stvdia Geologica Salmanticensia. n Especial 9: 153–173. – Hans-Volker Karl, Elke Gr�ning & Carsten Brauckmann – 2012.
