Kansas Herpetofaunal Atlas

Dorsal (left) and ventral view of holotype, UMMZ V26957 of *Terrapene llanensis*. Plate 1 as published in the original description (Oelrich 1953).

Type locality of *Terrapene llanensis*, UM-K2-47, T34S, R29W, Sec. 32, Meade County, Kansas. Plate 2 (upper) in the original description (Oelrich 1953). The arrow indicates where the specimen was discovered.

REPTILIA (Reptiles) TESTUDINES (Turtles) EMYDIDAE (Box and Basking Turtles)

Plains Box Turtle
†Terrapene llanensis Oelrich 1953

Conservation Status:
Extinct

Diagnosis:
A very large species of Terrapene with proportionally elongate vertebrals, proportionally broad costals and very high marginals, the latter being approximately one- third of the height of the carapace. The twelfth marginal is almost as large as the preceding ones. The carapace has a very slight carina, flat vertebrals, and no lateral keel. The length of the femoral scute is one-half the length of the abdominal and one-third the length of the anal scute.

Distribution:
Sangamon, late Pleistocene. The specimen was taken on a tributary of Shorts Creek, as shown on the U. S. Topographic Map of 1892. This creek is known locally as Lone Tree Arroyo. The local- ity, UM-K2-47, is located on the XI Ranch in T34S, R29W, Sec. 32, Meade County, Kan- sas. The strata in which the specimen occurred lie uncomformably upon the Upper Pliocene Rexroad formation
(, Museum Voucher) (, Observation) (, Literature Record) (, iNat Record), ( Fossil)
Open icons are questionable records; Click on a marker to view details.
Full range depicted by light shaded red area. Export Google Earth (.kml)

Occurrence Summary:
1
Records
1
Museum Vouchers
0
Other Observations

Some county occurrences indicated below may be too imprecise to map above.
County Breakdown: County Name (# occurrences):
Meade (1);

Natural History:

Remarks:
The standardized English name appears in Hibbard and Taylor (1960). Forms found at the fossil site with Terrapene llanensis and reported by Rinker (1949) include; Tremarctotherium simum (Cope), Short-faced Bear; Mammuthus columbi (Falconer), Columbian Elephant; Paramylodon sp., a large sloth.

Bibliography:

1953	Oelrich, Thomas M. A new box turtle from the Pleistocene of southwestern Kansas. Copeia 1953(1):53 The holotype of Terrapene llanensis (p. 35; UMMP 26957) was described from the posterior portion of a carapaceand hindlobe of a plastron along with some postcranial specimens from the lastinterglacial Lone Tree Arroyo locality, Meade County, Kansas.
1960	Hibbard, Claude W. and Dwight W. Taylor. Two Late Pleistocene Faunas from southwestern Kansas. Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, The University of Michigan 16(1):1-223
1963	Hibbard, Claude W. A Late Illinoian fauna from Kansas its climatic significance. Papers of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters 48():187-221
2001	Dodd, C. Kenneth, Jr. North American Box Turtles: A Natural History. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. pp.
2018	Vlachos, Evangelos. A review of the fossil record of North American turtles of the clade Pan-Testudinoidea Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 59(1):3-94 Has a BUNCH of changes to turtle taxonomy that need to be incorporated.

Account Last Updated:
1/19/2024 10:59:43 PM - page took 0.1875224 seconds to load.