Procolpochelys, Hay 1908

Robert & Weems, E., 2014, Paleogene chelonians from Maryland and Virginia, PaleoBios 31 (1), pp. 1-32 : 24-25

PROCOLPOCHELYS Hay 1908

Procolpochelys charlestonensis Weems & Sanders 2014

( Fig. 18A)

Specimen —CMM-V-4781, costal found by Robert E. Weems.

Locality, horizon, and age— Found in place about a foot above the basal contact at the base of the low bluff outcrop at Northbury, northwestern New Kent County, Virginia on the south bank of the Pamunkey River; Old Church Formation; late early Oligocene (late Rupelian, lower nannofossil zone NP24) .

Description —Distal two-thirds of a costal element

lacking any trace of surface sculpturing.

Remarks —This costal is quite similar in its proportions to the costals of Procolpochelys charlestonensis , known from the early Chattian Chandler Bridge Formation near Charleston, South Carolina. The Old Church specimen is smaller than the type of P. charlestonensis and relatively somewhat thinner, but this is typical of juvenile specimens of Procolpochelys . The absence of sculpturing precludes assignment to Ashleychelys Weems & Sanders 2014 or Carolinochelys Hay 1923 which are the only other pancheloniid genera known from the Oligocene of South Carolina. The presence of a juvenile P. charlestonensis in Virginia supports the suggestion of Weems and Sanders (2014) that Procolpochelys nested north of the Charleston, South Carolina region, because only adult specimens have been found in the Charleston area.