Caninemys, Meylan & Gaffney & De Almeida Campos, 2009

Meylan, Peter A., Gaffney, Eugene S. & De Almeida Campos, Diogenes, 2009, Caninemys, a New Side-Necked Turtle (Pelomedusoides: Podocnemididae) from the Miocene of Brazil, American Museum Novitates 3639, pp. 1-26 : 4

Caninemys , new genus

TYPE SPECIES: Caninemys tridentata , new species .

DISTRIBUTION: Late Tertiary, Miocene, of Acre, Brazil.

ETYMOLOGY: Named for the bulldog appearance of the skull and the large maxillary processes in the position of mammalian canines.

DIAGNOSIS: A podocnemidid pleurodire with a well-developed processus trochlearis pterygoidei, quadrate-basioccipital contact, and a large cavum pterygoidei; unique among podocnemidids (and all other turtles) in having greatly inflated maxillae, each with a ventral, toothlike process, which, together with a single process formed on the midline of the premaxillae, form a tridentate condition in the upper triturating surfaces, unique among pleurodires. The entire animal was probably smaller than Stupendemys geographicus Wood, 1976 .