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	Kathryn Hinton '03 Geology & Environmental Studies Major

Name  Unidentified Sea Turtle bone  Age  Late Cretaceous  Formation  Main Fossiliferous Layer  Comments      Sea turtles have roamed the open surface waters of the sea since the Late Cretaceous. The sea turtles ranged from 1 to 2.5 meters in their shell length and fed on abundant schools of fish. The descendants of these large reptiles are alive today.    Fragmented carapace or plastron bones of marine turtles are some of the most common reptile remains along the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain. Although uncommon, shattered limb bones and vertebrae can also be found.    The four main families of turtles found along the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain are Cheloniidae, Toxochelyinae, Trionychidae, and the side-necked Pelomedusidae. The two most common types of sea turtles are marine turtles and are represented by their scutes or bony plates that make up the shell. Osterphysis emarginatus, from the family Cheloniidae, is the most common marine turtle found. This specimen belongs to the same family of most modern day sea turtles.

Top left and bottom right each 1 inch long, the rest are each 1/2 inch long.

Bibliography:

www.geocities.com/dryptosaurus/seaturtles.html

Gallagher, W.B. and Parris, D.C., The Iversand Pit: Faunal Changes across the K/T Boundary in New Jersey.

Gallagher, W.B. (1991) Selective extinction and survival across the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary in the northern Atlantic Coastal Plain. Geology, October 1991, Volume 19, pg. 967-968.

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