Sahonachelys
Name:
Sahonachelys
(frog turtle).
Phonetic: Sa-ho-nah-chel-iss.
Named By: Walter G. Joyce, Yann Rollot,
Serjoscha W. Evers, Tyler R. Lyson, Lydia J. Rahantarisoa
& David W. Krause - 2021.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Testudines,
Pleurodira, Sahonachelyidae.
Species: S. mailakavava
(type).
Diet: Carnivore/Piscivore.
Size: Skull about 6.5 centimetres long. Shell
about 26 centimetres long.
Known locations: Madagascar - Maevarano
Formation.
Time period: Maastrichtian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial skull, shell and
post cranial skeleton.
Sahonachelys
is a genus of side-necked turtle that lived in Madagascar during the
late Cretaceous. The name Sahonachelys means
‘frog turtle’, a
reference to the frog-like appearance of the face. Sahonachelys
is
thought to have been a specialised suction feeder. This is evidenced
by upper and lower jaw surfaces that face each other, a lack of teeth
and an enlarged hyoid bone that would allow for wider mouth opening and
swallowing. How the suction feeding would work is that the mouth
would open very wide, and extremely quickly, resulting in a
pressure vacuum within the mouth. If a Sahonachelys
did this while a
small fish was swimming nearby, that fish would be sucked into its
mouth and swallowed whole.
Further reading
- A new pelomedusoid turtle, Sahonachelys mailakavava,
from the
Late Cretaceous of Madagascar provides evidence for convergent
evolution of specialized suction feeding among pleurodires. - Royal
Society Open Science. 8 (5): Article ID 210098. - Walter
G. Joyce, Yann Rollot, Serjoscha W. Evers, Tyler R. Lyson,
Lydia J. Rahantarisoa & David W. Krause - 2021.
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