Protostega

Taxobox
name = "Protostega"
fossil_range = Late Cretaceous

---

regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
ordo = Testudines
subordo = Cryptodira
familia = †Protostegidae
genus = "†Protostega"
genus_authority = Cope, 1871

"Protostega gigas" ('first roof' - 'giant') is an extinct species of marine turtle. It was first collected from the Smoky Hill Chalk of western Kansas in 1871, and named by E.D. Cope (1872). With a length of 3 m (10 ft), it is the second-largest turtle that ever lived, second only to the giant "Archelon".cite book | last =Lutz | first =Peter L. | authorlink =Peter Lutz | coauthors =John A. Musick | title =The Biology of Sea Turtles | publisher =CRC PRess | date =1996 | location = | pages =432pp. | url =http://books.google.com/books?id=fhm2yGTBiN8C&dq=protostegidae | doi = | id = | isbn =0849384222]

Like the modern leatherback sea turtle, the largest living turtle at 2,70 m (9 ft) long, "Protostega"'s carapace lacked scutes, making it weaker but also lighter. "Protostega" probably fed on slow ocean creatures such as jellyfish and shellfish.

Bibliography

*cite journal | last =Case| first =E. C.| authorlink =| title =On the osteology and relationships of "Protostega" | journal =Journal of Morphology| volume =14| issue =| pages = 21–60| date =1897 | url =http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/109914056/ABSTRACT?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 | doi =10.1002/jmor.1050140103| id = | accessdate =

* [http://www.oceansofkansas.com/Cope1872.html Cope, E. D. 1872. Sketch of an expedition in the valley of the Smoky Hill River in Kansas] . Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 12(87):174-176. (meeting of October 20, 1871)

*cite journal | last =Cope| first =Edward Drinker| authorlink =Edward Drinker Cope| title =A description of the genus "Protostega"| journal =Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia| volume =| issue =| pages = 422–433| date =1872 | url = | doi = | id = | accessdate =

*cite journal | last =Cope| first =Edward Drinker| authorlink =Edward Drinker Cope| title =Note of fossils obtained by Mr. Russell S. Hill, including bones of "Protostega gigas"| journal =The American Naturalist| volume =12| issue =| pages = 137| date =1878 | url = | doi = | id = | accessdate =

*cite journal | last =Hay| first =O.P.| authorlink =| title =On certain portions of the skeleton of "Protostega gigas"| journal =Field Columbian Museum, Publications, Zoological Series| volume =1| issue =| pages = 57–62| date =1895 | url = | doi = | id = | accessdate =

*cite journal | last =Hay| first =O.P.| authorlink =| title =On "Protostega", the systematic position of "Dermochelys", and the morphogeny of the chelonian carapace and plastron| journal =The American Naturalist| volume =32| issue =| pages = 929–948| date =1898 | url = | doi = | id = | accessdate =

*cite journal | last =Shimada| first =Kenshu| authorlink =Kenshu Shimada|coauthors=M.J. Everhart, G. E. Hooks III| title =Ichthyodectid fish and protostegid turtle bitten by the Late Cretaceous lamniform shark, "Cretoxyrhina mantelli"| journal =Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology| volume =22| issue =3| pages = 106| date =2002| url = | doi = | id = | accessdate =

* [http://www.oceansofkansas.com/Strnbrg99a.html Sternberg, C. H. 1899. The first great roof] . Popular Science News 33:126-127, 1 fig.

*cite journal | last =Sternberg| first =C.H.| authorlink =| title ="Protostega gigas" and other Cretaceous reptiles and fishes from the Kansas chalk| journal =Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science| volume =19| issue =| pages = 123–128| date =1905| url = | doi = | id = | accessdate =

*cite journal | last =Wieland| first =G. R.| authorlink =| title =The protostegan plastron| journal =American Journal of Science| series=4|volume =5| issue =| pages = 15–20| date =1898| url = | doi = | id = | accessdate =

*cite journal | last =Wieland| first =G. R.| authorlink =| title =The osteology of "Protostega"| journal =Carnegie Museum, Memoirs| volume =2| pages = 279–298| date =1906| url = | doi = | id = | accessdate =

*cite journal | last =Wieland| first =G. R.| authorlink =| title =Plastron of the Protosteginae | journal =Carnegie Museum, Annals| volume =4| pages = 8–14| date =1906| url = | doi = | id = | accessdate =

*cite journal | last =Wieland| first =G. R.| authorlink =| title =Revision of the Ptotostegidae | journal =American Journal of Science| series=4|volume =27| issue =| pages = 101–130| date =1909| url = | doi = | id = | accessdate =

*cite journal | last =Williston| first =S. W.| authorlink =| title =On the hind limb of "Protostega"| journal =American Journal of Science| series=4|volume =13| issue =| pages = 276–278| date =1902| url = | doi = | id = | accessdate =

*cite journal | last =Zangerl | first =Rainer | authorlink =Rainer Zangerl | title =The vertebrate fauna of the Selma Formation of Alabama, Part III. The turtles of the Family Protostegidae | journal =Chicago Field Museum Mem. | volume =3 | issue =3 | pages = | date =May 1953 | url = | doi = | id = | accessdate =

* [http://www.oceansofkansas.com/Turtles.html Oceans of Kansas - Marine Turtles]

References

External links