Puppigerus camperi ( Gray 1831 )

Robert & Weems, E., 2014, Paleogene chelonians from Maryland and Virginia, PaleoBios 31 (1), pp. 1-32 : 23-24

Puppigerus camperi ( Gray 1831)

( Figs.17A–F)

Specimens —CMM-V-4769, proximal and central part of fourth right costal found by Bob Wiest; CMM- V-4770; right premaxillary found by Bob Wiest; CMM- V-4771, fragmentary nuchal found by Gary Grimsley; CMM-V-3322, fragmentary nuchal found by Bill Counterman; CMM-V-4773, central and distal portion of right hyoplastron found by George Fonger.

Locality, horizon, and age — All found in the bluff immediately west of Loyola Retreat , 1.7 miles north of Popes Creek , Charles County, Maryland; lower part (Bed A) of the Woodstock Member, Nanjemoy Formation; early Eocene (Ypresian) within nannoplankton zone NP12 .

Description —Hyoplastron wide with a long external border extending far anteriorly but lacking any sutural border with the carapace, costals thin and lacking external sculpture, premaxillary forms narrow forward snout with a well-developed secondary palate.

Remarks —These remains and others of similar size are the most commonly found fragments of turtle in the Woodstock Member of the Nanjemoy; they are found in both the lower and upper beds A and B. They are not perceptibly different in size or morphology from skeletal material of Puppigerus camperi described and illustrated by Moody (1974) from the London Clay, which is equivalent in age to the Nanjemoy. This species has been reported from the lower member of the Nanjemoy, based on fused elongate dentaries with a prominent shelf ( Weems 1999), so it is not surprising to find it in the upper member as well. Curiously, although Eosphargis and Puppigerus are found both in the Nanjemoy Formation and the London Clay, other London Clay marine turtles ( Neurochelys Moody 1980 , Argillochelys Lydekker1889a and Eochelone Dollo 1903 , Moody 1996, Lapparent de Broin 2001) have not been found in the Nanjemoy.