A new podocnemidid (Pleurodira: Pelomedusoides) from the Eocene of north-western Argentina, with comments on its evolutionary relationships and palaeoenvironmental settings

We report a new small podocnemidid, <i>Gestemys powelli</i> gen. et sp. nov., based on one nearly complete skull, lower jaw, two shells, and remains of the appendicular skeleton belonging to two specimens from the Eocene Geste Formation of the San Antonio de la Cobres Basin, Salta Province, north-western Argentina. As in other podocnemidid genera, <i>Gestemys</i> exhibits a fully developed and medially extensive cavum pterygoidei, an incisura columellae auris enclosing the stapes and Eustachian tube, and lacks an exoccipital quadrate contact. <i>Gestemys powelli</i> bears a huge foramen palatinum posterius and a short pterygoid flange that does not reach the basisphenoid suture, exposing the cavum pterygoid. Phylogenetic analyses place <i>Gestemys powelli</i> as a member of Podocnemididae more closely related to Erymnochelyinae than Podocnemidinae. In regards to the palaeoenvironmental settings of the Palaeogene formations (Maíz Gordo and Geste) of north-western Argentina, at least two features differentiate the palaeoenvironment where <i>G. powelli</i> was recovered and those of other podocnemidid turtles from the Maíz Gordo Formation: 1) <i>G. powelli</i> was found <i>in situ</i> with very little re-working; and 2) in contrast to the muddy rocks indicating the marginal lacustrine setting and humid climate of the Maíz Gordo Formation, <i>G. powelli</i> is associated with a coarse-grained floodplain setting and a dry, temperate climate. Such differences highlight the contrasting environmental dynamics in which podocnemidid turtles lived during the Palaeogene. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:0E631DA2-053F-4BD6-91BD-2401F34A5777