Abstract
Meiolaniformes include the bizarre group of extinct Cenozoic turtles bearing cranial horns and frills (clade Meiolaniidae) and several species located in its stem. Most meiolaniforms are from Gondwana (Australia and South America), with the exception of two Eurasiatic taxa (Kallokibotion bajazidi and Mongolochelys efremovi). Meiolaniformes were originated in the present-day South America and they are known from the Lower Cretaceous until the Holocene. The oldest fossils within the clade (Chubutemys copelloi and Otwayemys cunicularius) indicate a minimum age of origin in the Aptian–Albian (Lower Cretaceous).
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de la Fuente, M.S., Sterli, J., Maniel, I. (2014). Meiolaniforms: An Extinct Lineage of Turtles of Gondwanan Origin. In: Origin, Evolution and Biogeographic History of South American Turtles. Springer Earth System Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00518-8_6
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