H. N. Hutchinson

Fredric L. Frye

Academic paper

PaleoBios

21

3

12-19

Survey of fossil turtle shells and fragments from selected Eocene localities of Wyoming yielded numerous examples of non-developmental pathologic injury. A few of these are clearly the result of predator damage indicated by bite holes and gouge marks. A brief review of the causes of the other injuries, particularly sublaminal pitting of the shell, implicates possible sources from fungal, algal, bryozoan, and bacterial infections, but these remain inconclusive on a case by case basis, pending more detailed study, description, and causes of similar injuries in extant turtles. Comparisons of the relative frequency of pathologies in different turtle paleopopulations suggest that environmental conditions may play a role in the etiology of these pathologies.

Anapsida; Baptemys garmanii; Cenozoic; Chelonia; Chordata; Echmatemys euthneta; Eocene; Hadrianus corsoni; morphology; paleoecology; paleoenvironment; Paleogene; parasites; predation; Reptilia; Tertiary; Testudines; Tetrapoda; United States; Vertebrata; Wyoming

English