Two new finds of turtle remains from the Danian and Selandian (Paleocene) deposits of Denmark with evidence of predation by crocodilians and sharks

Abstract

Two new fragments of a turtle carapace and a turtle plastron (hypoplastron) have been recovered from glacially transported boulders of Danian and Selandian age. The hypoplastron is identified as Ctenochelys cf. stenoporus, while the carapace fragment can only be assigned to the family Cheloniidae indet. Both specimens show evidence of predation by crocodilians in the form of rows of circular pits in the bones, and one specimen has rows of elongated scrape traces interpreted as scavenging by sharks. Together with the other, rare finds from the middle Danian of the Faxe Quarry and from late Danian deposits in the Copenhagen area, these new finds add important new knowledge to the sparse fossil record of turtles in Scandinavia, as well as evidence that the genus Ctenochelys survived across the K/Pg Boundary.