Angolachelonia

Angolachelonia is a clade of extinct turtles from the Late Jurassic to Paleogene of Eurasia. The group is defined as all taxa derived from the ancestor of the type genus Angolachelys and Solnhofia, a definition that could potentially encompass a clade of entirely marine turtles.[1] Angolachelonia was originally inclusive of only Solnhofia, Angolachelys and Sandownia when originally concevied by Octavio Mateus and colleagues in 2009,[2] but later phylogenetic analyses by Serjocha Evers and Roger Benson in 2018 unites the family Sandownidae, including Angolachelys and Sandownia among other taxa, with the entirely Late Jurassic clade Thalassochelydia, where Solnhofia may be a basal member. While the placement of Solnhofia is weak and the clade that Angolachelonia represents may change with further analysis, the clade of Sandownidae and Thalassochelydia is well-supported, and does not collapse despite the uncertain evolutionary history of the group. Three alternative potential origins of Angolachelonia sensu Evers and Benson are shown below.[1]

Angolachelonia
Temporal range: Late Jurassic to Paleogene, Oxfordian–Paleocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Pantestudines
Clade: Testudinata
Clade: †Angolachelonia
Mateus et al., 2009
Subgroups[1]

References
  1. Evers, S.W.; Benson, R.B.J. (2018). "A new phylogenetic hypothesis of turtles with implications for the timing and number of evolutionary transitions to marine lifestyles in the group". Palaeontology. 62 (2): 93–134. doi:10.1111/pala.12384.
  2. Octávio Mateus; Louis Jacobs; Michael Polcyn; Anne S. Schulp; Diana Vineyard; André Buta Neto; Miguel Telles Antunes (2009). "The oldest African eucryptodiran turtle from the Cretaceous of Angola" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 54 (4): 581–588. doi:10.4202/app.2008.0063.
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