Allaeochelys

Allaeochelys
Temporal range: Eocene–Miocene
Allaeochelys crassesculptata
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Family: Carettochelyidae
Tribe: Allaeochelyini
Genus: Allaeochelys
Noulet, 1867
Type species
Allaeochelys parayrei
Noulet, 1867
Species

See Taxonomy section

Allaeochelys is an extinct genus of Carettochelyid turtle, known from the Eocene to Miocene of Europe, Asia, North America and Africa.

Fossils of the species Allaeochelys crassesculpta have been found in the Messel Pit near Darmstadt, Germany in pairs fossilised in the coital position.

It is believed to be the only example in the fossil record of vertebrates mating.

Dr Walter Joyce of the University of Tübingen said that "We've demonstrated quite clearly that each pair is a male and a female, and not, for example, just two males that might have died in combat....People had long speculated they might have died while mating, but that's quite different from actually showing it."

Taxonomy

After



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