Puppigerus camperi

Puppigerus camperi

(Gray, 1831)

Common name Sea turtle
Fossil group Reptiles
Order Testudines
Genus Puppigerus
Taxonomic status Accepted
Geological age Ypresian

Summary

Puppigerus camperi was a medium-sized early sea turtle with a streamlined marine body, a strongly ossified shell and a long, pointed head. Its forelimbs were modified for flipper-driven swimming, making it an active inhabitant of warm coastal seas. Adults could reach a carapace length of about half a metre, substantially larger than the smallest London Clay sea turtles.

The skull carried a very extensive secondary palate and a broad, relatively flat crushing surface. This anatomy would have allowed the turtle to handle resistant benthic food as well as softer prey, but it does not demonstrate an exclusively hard-shelled diet. Skulls, jaws, shells and limb bones are all known, giving a comparatively complete picture of its marine adaptations and feeding apparatus.

Quick Identification

Look for: a long, narrow sea-turtle skull with a sharply pointed snout and a very extensive secondary palate; the crushing surface is broad and fairly flat with only a shallow midline groove or low ridge. In shell material, look for a strongly ossified carapace with usually nine neurals and a plastron retaining only a short ovoid central opening in adults.

Diagnostic Features

  • Skull is elongate and triangular in dorsal view with a long, narrow, pointed snout.
  • Secondary palate is very extensive, extending through roughly the posterior half or more of the triturating region.
  • Triturating surface is broad and relatively flat, lacking paired crushing swellings.
  • Carapace normally has a continuous series of nine neurals, with variation in the shape of the first two.
  • Adult plastron is strongly ossified and retains a short ovoid central fontanelle.

Fossil Details

Typical size
Carapace up to c. 51.5 cm in reviewed material.
Preservation
Shells may be crushed or incomplete and the anterior neural arrangement varies, so one shell character should not be used alone. Skull, palate and associated shell material provide the strongest identification.

Similar Species

Recorded Fossil Sites

References

  • de Lapparent de Broin, F.; Murelaga, X.; Pérez-García, A.; Farrés, F.; Altimiras, J. (2018). The turtles from the upper Eocene, Osona County (Ebro Basin, Catalonia, Spain): new material and its faunistic and environmental context. Fossil Record, 21, 237–284 View reference
  • Menon, J.C.L.; Joyce, W.G. (2025). A redescription of Glyptochelone suyckerbuykii (Ubaghs, 1879), an enigmatic fossil sea turtle (Chelonioidea) from the Maastrichtian of the Netherlands and Belgium, sheds new light on fossil sea turtle shell variation and neural bone homology. Swiss Journal of Palaeontology, 144, 62 View reference
  • Tong, H.; Hirayama, R.; Tabouelle, J. (2012). Puppigerus camperi (Testudines: Cryptodira: Cheloniidae) from the Ypresian (Early Eocene) of Ouled Abdoun basin, Morocco. Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France, 183(6), 635–640 View reference
Last Reviewed
16 August 2026 Reviewed by Sam Harris