Yann Rollot

Snapping turtles ( Pan‐Chelydridae ) play an important role in modern ecosystems throughout North America, but their fossil record is notably poor. We here describe a new species of fossil pan‐chelydrid, Chelydropsis aubasi , from the Middle Eocene (MP15, Bartonian) of Chéry‐Chartreuve, Department of Aisne, France, based on a series of fragments that document most of the shell. The new species not only bridges the morphological gap between earlier pan‐chelydrids from North America and later pan‐chelydrids from Europe but also advances the arrival of the group from North America to Europe by at least 10 million years. Although pan‐chelydrids are notably absent from Early and Middle Eocene localities throughout Europe, the new fossil gives credence to the idea that pan‐chelydrids may have dispersed from North America to Europe in concert with other turtles during the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum, but remain undetected to date.