Archelon facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Archelon Temporal range: Upper Cretaceous
Type specimen (YPM 3000) of Archelon ischyros
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Order:	Testudines
Suborder:	Cryptodira
Family:	Protostegidae
Genus:	Archelon
Binomial name
Archelon ischyros Wieland, 1896

Archelon was a huge marine turtle (Testudines) that was the size of a car. It lived in North America 74 million years ago (from the Upper Cretaceous) in the epeiric inland sea called the Western Interior Seaway. Fossils have been found in the U.S. states of Kansas and South Dakota.

This carnivore was up to 4.6 metres (15 ft) long. It had a wide, flattened shell, paddle-like legs, a long, narrow head, weak jaws, and a short, pointed tail. Its only predators were probably the larger mosasaurs. From its beak, its own food was probably squid.

Archelon, like other turtles, had a solidly-roofed skull with no opening (except for eyes, and nostrils).

Images for kids

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  Holotype (YPM 3000) at the Yale Peabody Museum

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  The leatherback sea turtle was previously thought to be the closest living relative.

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  "Brigitta," the largest specimen, at the Natural History Museum Vienna

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  Size comparison between Notochelone (lightest blue), Protostega (darkest blue), and Archelon

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  Archelon had a pronounced beak.

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  1914 restoration by American paleontologist Samuel Wendell Williston

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  Restoration

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  Archelon plastron at the North American Museum of Ancient Life

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  Eutrephoceras dekayi may have been a food source. Above from the Natural History Museum Nuremberg

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  Restoration

See also

In Spanish: Archelon para niños