Placochelys

Placochelys (from plax, plakos, "plate" and chelys, "tortoise") is an extinct genus of placodont reptiles erected by Otto Jaekel in 1902.

Fossil records
Fossils of Placochelys dates back to the Triassic period (age range: 221.5 to 205.6 million years ago). They have been found in Germany, Austria, Hungary and Italy.

Species
This genus includes only one species:


 * Placochelys placodonta Jaekel, 1902 (from Upper Ladinian of Hungary)

Description
Placochelys looked remarkably similar to a sea turtle, and grew to about 90 cm in length. It had a flat turtle-like carapace covered with knobbly plates, and a compact triangular skull. Its beaked skull had powerful muscles. It had only two pairs of palatal teeth, a large posterior pair, and a small rostral pair. The specialized broad teeth on the palate, were most likely used for crushing shellfish and hard-shelled prey. Its limbs were paddle-shaped for swimming, although, unlike modern sea turtles, they still had discernable toes, and it also had a short tail.