Toxochelys

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Toxochelys is an extinct genus of marine turtle from the Late Cretaceous period. It is the most commonly found fossilized turtle species in the Smoky Hill Chalk, in western Kansas.

Description

Toxochelys had carapace about 90 cm in length. Two species in the genus are recognized, Toxochelys latiremis and Toxochelys moorevillensis. Phylogenetic analysis shows that Toxochelys belong to an extinct lineage of turtles transitional between modern sea turtles and other turtles. Toxochelys bauri Williston, 1905, based on the skeleton YPM 1786, is a synonym of Ctenochelys stenoporus.

Phylogeny

Toxochelys latiremis in a cladogram from the analysis of Gentry et al., 2019:

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