Pliocene and Pleistocene Records of Fossil Turtles from Western Kansas and Oklahoma – University of Kansas Publications Museum of Natural History Volume 1.

In the vertebrate paleontological collection at the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History there are many fragments of turtles that have been collected, generally in connection with the excavation or recovery of other fossils. The generic identification of this material is possible in many instances, and such identifications give new and important geological and distributional records for genera in existence today.

All catalogue numbers refer to the vertebrate paleontological collection in the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History.

Family KINOSTERNIDAE

+Kinosternon+ sp. No. 7729 consists of fragments of marginals, costals, and plastronal elements collected from Edson Quarry, Sherman County, Kansas. The age is middle Pliocene (Hemphillian). No. 7679, consisting of a nuchal, and fragments of marginals, costals, and neurals is from Nye Sink, XI Ranch, Meade County, Kansas, and is of Pleistocene age.

Any fossil record of _Kinosternon_ is a welcome find, and these two specimens give new data both as to age and distribution. However, it should be emphasized that these identifications are based on fragments, and are tentative.

Family EMYDIDAE

+Pseudemys+ sp. No. 5613, Sherman County; 6784, Seward County; and 4728, Meade County, are three of many fragments, mainly elements of the nuchal plate and plastron, that were collected from Edson Quarry, Sherman County, Kansas, and from middle and late Pliocene beds in Seward and Meade counties, Kansas, respectively. The species represented cannot be differentiated from species of _Pseudemys_ living today. Species of _Pseudemys_ are common also in most of the Pleistocene deposits of western Kansas.