{{Short description|Family of turtles}} {{redirect|Snapping turtle|the familiar extant species, Chelydra serpentina|Common snapping turtle}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = Chelydrids | fossil_range = {{fossilrange|70.6|0}} Late Cretaceous<ref name=PB>[http://paleobiodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=checkTaxonInfo&taxon_no=172850&is_real_user=0 ''Emarginachelys cretacea''], Paleobiology Database</ref> to Recent | image = Common Snapping Turtle (52259285400).jpg | image_upright = 1.1 | image_caption = Common snapping turtle (''Chelydra serpentina'') | taxon = Chelydridae | authority = Gray, 1831<ref name=gray1831 /> | synonyms = *Chelydrae <small>Gray, 1831:4</small><ref name=gray1831>Gray, John Edward. (1831). ''Synopsis Reptilium; or Short Descriptions of the Species of Reptiles. Part I.—Cataphracta. Tortoises, Crocodiles, and Enaliosaurians.'' London: Treuttel, Wurz, and Co., 85 pp. [Published May 1831].</ref> *Chelydridae <small>Swainson, 1839:113</small><ref name=swain1839>Swainson, William. (1839). On the natural history and classification of fishes, amphibians, and reptiles. Vol. II. In: Lardner, D. (Ed.). The Cabinet Cyclopaedia. Natural History. London: Longman, 452 pp.</ref> *Chelydradae <small>Gray, 1869:178</small><ref name=gray1869>Gray, John Edward. (1869). Notes on the families and genera of tortoises (Testudinata), and on the characters afforded by the study of their skulls. ''Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London'' 1869:165–225.</ref> | synonyms_ref = <ref name="ttwg">Turtle Taxonomy Working Group [van Dijk, P.P., Iverson, J.B., Shaffer, H.B., Bour, R., and Rhodin, A.G.J.]. (2012). Turtles of the World, 2012 update: annotated checklist of taxonomy, synonymy, distribution, and conservation status. ''Chelonian Research Monographs'' No. 5, pp. 000.243–000.328, doi:10.3854/crm.5.000.checklist.v5.2012, {{cite web|url=http://www.iucn-tftsg.org/wp-content/uploads/file/Accounts/crm_5_000_checklist_v5_2012.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2014-04-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130616121324/http://www.iucn-tftsg.org/wp-content/uploads/file/Accounts/crm_5_000_checklist_v5_2012.pdf |archive-date=2013-06-16}}</ref> | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision = * ''Chelydra'' * ''Macrochelys'' * †''Acherontemys'' * †''Chelydrops'' * †''Chelydropsis'' * †''Emarginachelys'' * †''Macrocephalochelys'' * †''Planiplastron'' * †''Protochelydra'' }} '''Chelydridae''' <!-- or "The '''Chelydridae''' are" for proper English -->is a family of turtles that has seven extinct and two extant genera. The extant genera are the '''snapping turtles''', ''Chelydra'' and ''Macrochelys''. Both are endemic to the Western Hemisphere. The extinct genera are ''Acherontemys'', ''Chelydrops'', ''Chelydropsis'', ''Emarginachelys'', ''Macrocephalochelys'', ''Planiplastron'', and ''Protochelydra''.
==Fossil history== [[File:Chelydropsis murchisoni 01.jpg|thumb|left|''Chelydropsis murchisoni'' fossil remains (left: juvenile; right: adult)]]
The Chelydridae have a long fossil history, with extinct species reported from North America and all over Asia and Europe, far outside their present range. The earliest described chelydrid is ''Emarginachelys cretacea'', known from well-preserved fossils from the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous of Montana.<ref name=PB/> Another well-preserved fossil chelydrid is the Late Paleocene ''Protochelydra zangerli'' from North Dakota.<ref>Danilov G. and J. F. Parham. (2008). A reassessment of some poorly known turtles from the Middle Jurassic of China, with comments on the antiquity of extant turtles. ''Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology'' 28(2):306-318</ref> The carapace of ''P. zangerli'' is higher-domed than that of the recent ''Chelydra'', a trait conjectured to be associated with the coexistence of large, turtle-eating crocodilians. Another genus, ''Chelydropsis'', contains several well-known Eurasian chelydrid species that existed from the Oligocene to the Pliocene.<ref>Böhme, M. (2008). Ectothermic vertebrates (Teleostei, Allocaudata, Urodela, Anura, Testudines, Choristodera, Crocodylia, Squamata) from the Upper Oligocene of Oberleichtersbach (Northern Bavaria, Germany). ''Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg'' 260:161-183</ref> In South America, chelydrids (''C. acutirostris'') only occupy the northwestern corner of the continent, reflecting their recent arrival from Central America as part of the Great American Interchange.
==Gallery== <gallery mode="packed"> File:Catalogue of shield reptiles in the collection of the British Museum (8612492233).jpg|Skulls of alligator snapping turtle (bottom) and common snapping turtle (top) File:Alligator Snapping Turtle Skeleton.jpg|Skeleton of alligator snapping turtle at the Museum of Osteology File:20230613 mamma snapping turtle PD27362.jpg|Female common snapping turtle laying eggs (not visible), Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, Lenox, Massachusetts File:20230613 snapping turtle laying eggs.jpg|Female common snapper laying eggs </gallery>
==See also== * {{Portal-inline|Reptiles}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * de Broin, F. (1969). ''Contribution a l'etude des cheloniens. Cheloniens continentaux du Cretace Superieur et du Tertiaire de France. Memoires du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle.'' Vol. C, No. XXVIII. * Ericson, B.R. (1973). A new chelydrid turtle (''Protochelydra zangerli''), from the late Paleocene of North Dakota. ''Scientific Publications of the Science Museum of Minnesota, New Series.'' 2(2):1-16. * Gaffney, E.S. (1975). Phylogeny of the chelydrid turtles: a study of shared derived characters in the skull. ''Fieldiana Geology'' 33:157-178. * Parham, J.F., C.R. Feldman, and J.R. Boore (2006). The complete mitochondrial genome of the enigmatic bigheaded turtle (''Platysternon''): description of unusual genomic features and the reconciliation of phylogenetic hypotheses based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA. ''BMC Evol Biol.'' 6: 11. Published online February 7, 2006. {{doi|10.1186/1471-2148-6-11|doi-access=free}}. * Whetstone, K.N. (1978). A new genus of cryptodiran turtles (Testudinoidea, Chelydridae) from the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation of Montana. ''The University of Kansas Science Bulletin'' 51(17):539-563.
==External links== * {{Commons category-inline|Chelydridae}} * {{Wikispecies-inline|Chelydridae}}
{{Chelydridae}} {{Taxonbar |from=Q650212}}
Category:Chelydridae Category:Extant Maastrichtian first appearances Category:Turtle families Category:Symbols of New York (state) Category:Taxa named by John Edward Gray