TESTUDINATA Klein, 1760

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT

Turtles are well represented in Angeac-Charente, notably by numerous isolated shell plates and bones of the axial and appendicular skeletons, and more rarely by articulated shell material (see Table 1; Fig. 35A). Only a few pieces of skulls, including a maxillary and a mandible, have been recovered. Néraudeau et al. (2012) have previously reported the presence of three distinct turtle taxa in Angeac-Charente: a pleurosternid, a solemydid (now helochelydrid), and a third taxon characterized by shell bones without surface ornamentation (Figs 12; 13). Since then, additional and more complete material confirms these preliminary conclusions (see below). The third taxon is now identified as a thalassochelydian.