Eochelone voltregana n. sp. is a new marine cryptodiran cheloniid
found at the Priabonian levels (latest Eocene) of the Vespella marls member of
the Vic–Manlleu marls formation. It is the second cheloniid from Santa
Cecília de Voltregà (Osona County, Spain), the first one being
Osonachelus decorata from the same formation. Shell parameters
indicate that the new species belongs to a branch of sea turtles including
the Eocene Anglo–Franco–Belgian forms Argillochelys,
Puppigerus and Eochelone (the shell of the latter was studied here
for the first time) as well as Glarichelys from the Oligocene of
Switzerland, all of them predating the worldwide living Miocene genera. The
description of two other more littoral–continental Eocene species is given:
Trionyx sp., from an older layer of the same formation; and the
podocnemidid erymnochelyine,
Cordichelys from a more basal layer of a middle Eocene (Lutetian)
formation. The last one is identified as the only evidence of the
Shweboemys subgroup in the European record, being distinct from the
other known Osona County pleurodire Eocenochelus farresi, which is a
member of the Erymnochelys group (same subfamily), from the younger
Priabonian Sant Martí Xic layer. Thus, an update on the marine turtle
fauna of the eastern Ebro Basin that variably opened in the east during
Eocene times is provided. The turtles of Osona County belong to two suborders
and five genera with three new species and extend the known distribution of
their families (LSID
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:48CE8676-7B82-4EF2-8165-27BEE90129F2).</p
