New insights into the fossil record of the turtle genus Chelus Duméril, 1806 including new specimens with information on cervicals and limb bones
Comptes Rendus Palevol 22
(34)
Matamata turtles (Chelus Duméril, 1806) are composed of two extant species, Chelus fimbriata Schneider, 1783 and Chelus orinocensis Vargas-Ramírez, Caballero, Morales-Betancourt, Lasso, Amaya, Martínez, Silva-Viana, Vogt, Farias, Hrbek, Campbell & Fritz, 2020, inhabitants of the main freshwater drainages of northern South America. The systematics and palaeobiogeography of Chelus is still unresolved. Here, we describe several new fossil specimens from the Late Miocene of Urumaco (Venezuela) and Tatacoa (Colombia). The fossils are mostly complete, articulated shells that allow reestablishing validity of two extinct taxa, Chelus colombiana Wood, 1976 and Chelus lewisi Wood, 1976. One of the specimens of C.