Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 87. (Budapest 1995)

Farkas, B.: Fossil trionychid turtle types in Hungarian collections - a preliminary review (Reptilia, Testudines)

declare T. harmati to be an undeterminable soft-shelled turtle. Since some part of the corpus is obviously missing, it makes absolutely no sense to provide a length measurement of the specimen (cf. SZÁLAI 1934). Trionyx clavatomarginatus LÖRENTHEY, 1903 (Fig. 4) This is by far the best preserved fossil soft-shelled turtle "species" recovered in the former Hungary, reaching at least 40 cm bony disk length. The original definition by LÖ RENTHEY (1903) reveals a certain unfamiliarity with turtles, particularly trionychids. The detailed descriptions of individual bony elements are certainly impressive but of limited taxonomic applicability. He stated that "... in jedem Falle, wo nicht das Gegenteil besonders hervorgehoben wird, immer von dem auf Taf. VI abgebildeten Exemplar die Rede ist", and thus suggested that the more or less complete carapace (formerly in the collection of the "Erdélyi MúzeumEgylet", presently deposited at the Museum of the Transylvanian Basin, University of Cluj, Romania [MTB 15983]) should be considered the holotype. The figures on both of his plates appeared in the unusual upside-down position. The cast of one of the paratypes, the posterior disk fragment (MTB 15982), is available at HGS (No. 3144). The type material originates from three different sites within the limits of Cluj ("Dealu-Goal" [= Dealul Gol] near Kolozsmonostor or Kolozs-Monostor [= Cluj-Manastur]

; Kolozsmonostor, without further restriction; and "Plecska-Tale" [= Valea Plesca] in Kolozsvár [MTB 15984], respectively; locus typicus restricted to "Cetatu Anhöhen in Cluj" by MLYNARSKI [1966]), from limestone sediments of Eocene (LÖRENTHEY 1903) or Oligocène (MLYNARSKI 1966) age. As compared to Trionyx austriacus PETERS, LÖRENTHEY found his T. clavatomarginatus to differ primarily in the outline of the carapace: it is waved in T. clavatomarginatus (etymology!), whereas it is more or less regular in T. austriacus. Ribheads protruding from the pleurals are longer in T. clavatomarginatus, the second, third, fourth and fifth neurals have sharper angles, and differ in the form of the pedicellate sculpturing as well. Judging from the photographs furnished by LÖRENTHEY (op. cit.) and the fragmentary paratype at hand, T. clavatomarginatus has eight neurals (I follow MEYLAN [1984, 1987] in counting the presumably fused first and second neurals as two elements), with neural reversal occurring at neural 7 if at all, the material being poorly preserved in the critical area, eight pairs of pleurals, the last two pairs meeting at the midline. Since both the number of neurals as well as the position of the neural reversal, when present, is somewhat variable within individual species, these alone cannot be used for taxonomic evaluation (MEYLAN 1984, 1987, PRITCHARD 1988, RHODIN et al. 1993). T. clavatomarginatus and at least the Oligocène T. boulengeri VON REINACH seem to be junior synonyms of the Miocene T. gergensi H. v. MEYER (all of the "T. protriunguis-R&ihe" sensu VON REINACH [1900]; for criticism see HUMMEL [1927]). However, to avoid more confusion, I tentatively accept T. clavatomarginatus as a bona species, awaiting comprehensive treatment by MEYLAN (in prep.). Acknowledgements - For allowing me to study the fossil soft-shelled turtle types in the HGS collections I thank ERIKA JUHÁSZ and LÁSZLÓ KORDOS. I am deeply indebted to IGNAS ALEVEN (Amsterdam), ELENA KORDIKOVA (Almaty), PETER MEYLAN (St. Petersburg, FL), PETER PRITCHARD (Casselberry), HERMANN SCHLEICH (Munich) and PETER PAUL VAN DIJK (Galway and Bangkok) for relevant literature, to VLAD CODREA (Cluj-Napoca) and MÁRTON VENCZEL (Oradea) for information on the types of T. clavatomarginatus, and to XING LANG (Beijing) for moral support. The helpful comments of XHEJMS BISTRICA, JAMES BUSKIRK (both Oakland, CA) and ZOLTÁN KORSÓS (Budapest) on an earlier version of the manuscript are also gratefully acknowledged. The photographs were prepared by Mrs. L. PELLÉRDY and ANDRÁS KEVE (Budapest).