Bairdemys, GAFFNEY & TONG & MEYLAN, 2002

GAFFNEY, EUGENE S., TONG, HAIYAN & MEYLAN, PETER A., 2002, Bairdemys, a New Side-Necked Turtle (Pelomedusoides: Podocnemididae) from the Miocene of the Caribbean, American Museum Novitates 3359, pp. 1-28 : 5

Bairdemys , species indeterminate

SPECIMEN: AMNH 30000, poorly preserved skull, figured in Sánchez­Villagra et al. (2000).

LOCALITY: Cerro La Cruz, NW area of Lara State, 4 km NW of Caserío La Mesa. See Sánchez­Villagra et al., 2000, for map.

HORIZON: Castillo Formation, early Miocene.

DISCUSSION: This skull was figured and briefly described in Sánchez­Villagra et al. (2000) as ‘‘genus indet., of ‘Podocnemis’ venezuelensis Wood and Díaz de Gamero, 1971 ’’. The skull is clearly a Shweboemys Group podocnemidid based on its cavum pterygoideus and secondary palate. It has the palatal convexity diagnostic of Bairdemys . However, the skull differs from both species of Bairdemys in being flatter and lacking the degree of snout arching seen in Bairdemys . AMNH 30000 is not well preserved and these differences might be due to crushing, although there is no other indication of this. Unfortunately, sutures are not visible, and most of the bone surface is eroded.

Comparison with the diagnostic criteria of the Bairdemys species (table 1) shows that it has the straight rather than pinched snout of B. venezuelensis , and the apparently narrow­ er skull and shallower palatal depressions of B. hartsteini . Its length is 92 mm, just intermediate between the 80 mm of B. hartsteini and the 105–120 mm of B. venezuelensis . AMNH 30000 could very well be a distinct species of Bairdemys , but its poor preservation makes it very difficult to be sure about the characters mentioned. For the present, we