Bairdemys is an extinct genus of side-necked turtles in the family Podocnemididae. The genus existed from the Late Oligocene to Late Miocene and its fossils have been found in South Carolina, Puerto Rico, Panama and Venezuela. The genus was described in 2002 by Gaffney & Wood and the type species is B. hartsteini.
Taxonomy Bairdemys belonged to the Stereogenyini, a tribe of the subfamily Erymnochelyinae that had adapted to coastal marine habitats and was successful from the late Oligocene through much of the Neogene. This tribe was primarily diverse along the coastlines of the Tethys (and later Indian) ocean of Africa and Asia, with Bairdemys being the only genus inhabiting the coastlines of the western Atlantic Ocean along the Americas. The separation between the Afro-Asian Stereogenyita and the American Bairdemydita (containing only Bairdemys) appears to have occurred at the start of the Late Oligocene.
Description The first species in the genus described was B. venezuelensis as Podocnemis venezuelensis by Wood and Díaz de Gamero in 1971.Gaffney et al., 2008
Species B. hartsteini B. healeyorum B. sanchezi B. thalassica B. venezuelensis B. winklerae
Phylogeny Bairdemys was placed phylogenetically by Ferreira et al. in 2015.Ferreira et al., 2015, p.10
Distribution
Fossils of Bairdemys have been found in:Bairdemys at Fossilworks.org Late Oligocene Chandler Bridge Formation, Arikareean, South Carolina Early-Mid Miocene Cibao Formation, Hemingfordian, Puerto Rico El Miedo Cave, Capadare and Castillo Formations, Laventan, Venezuela Late Miocene Alajuela Formation, earliest Clarendonian, Panama Urumaco Formation, Chasicoan, Venezuela
See also Carbonemys Stupendemys
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