I.—On a New Species of Chelonian (Podocnemis ægyptiaca) from the Lower Miocene of Egypt

Abstract

The occurrence of fossil reptiles in the Lower Miocene of Moghara in Egypt has already been referred to in a paper published in the last volume of this journal (1899, p. 481), where a short account of the deposits in which the remains are found has been given. The specimens which have been received from Captain H. G. Lyons, R.E., Director-General of the Egyptian Geological Survey, include bones and scutes of Crocodile, Trionyx, and of the Chelonian which forms the subject of the present notice. Of the two former the remains are too imperfect for determination, and further material is desirable; but in the case of the last it has been found possible to reconstruct the plastron and most of the carapace, and from these it can be shown that this Chelonian belonged to the Pleuradiran group, and is referable to the genus Podocnemis, forming a new species, to which the name Podocnemis ægyptiaca may be applied. At the present day the genus is found only in South America and Madagascar, but, as in many other cases in which the modern representatives of a group are confined to the Southern Hemisphere, where they may occur in widely separated areas, in the Tertiary period species existed in the Northern Hemisphere.