Kallokibotion
Extinct genus of turtles
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Kallokibotion is an extinct genus of stem-turtle from the Upper Cretaceous (Santonian-Maastrichtian, 86–66 million years ago), known from fossils found in Romania.[1] One species is known, Kallokibotion bajazidi, which was named by Franz Nopcsa after his lover Bajazid Doda.[2][3] It literally means 'beautiful box of Bajazid'; Nopcsa chose the name because, in the words of British palaeontologist Gareth Dyke, "the shape of the shell reminded him of Bajazid's arse".[3] A second undescribed species is known from the Santonian of Hungary.[4] Turtles similar to Kallokibotion were reported from the Paleocene of France[5] and the Lower Maastrichtian of Volgograd Oblast, Russia,[6] but these similarities were dismissed later.[5][7]
| Kallokibotion Temporal range: Upper Cretaceous, | |
|---|---|
| |
| Fossil carapace, Deva Natural History Museum | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Pantestudines |
| Clade: | Testudinata |
| Clade: | Perichelydia |
| Family: | †Kallokibotiidae |
| Genus: | †Kallokibotion Nopsca, 1923 |
| Species: | †K. bajazidi |
| Binomial name | |
| †Kallokibotion bajazidi Nopsca, 1923 | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Description
Kallokibotion reached 50 cm (1 ft 8 in) in carapace length. There are jagged ornaments on its shell.[1]
Taxonomy
A fossil of this turtle was mistakenly described as a pterosaur of the genus Thalassodromeus in 2014.[8] In 1992, it was identified as a basal cryptodire, and as a meiolaniid in the early 2010's.[1] Later phylogenetic analysis based on characters described from new specimens places Kallokibotion as the sister taxon of the crown testudines.[9] A 2021 analysis placed Kallokibotion in Compsemydidae within Paracryptodira.[10]
