Abstract. Recently, a vertebrate assemblage of the Jehol Biota has been reported from
the Early Cretaceous Hengtongshan Formation of Xingling Town, Meihekou City,
Jilin Province, China. It is dominated by the fishes Lycoptera and Sinamia and the sinemydid
turtle Ordosemys. Here, we describe the turtle specimens and referral to Ordosemys liaoxiensis, otherwise
known from the older Yixian Formation of the Jehol Biota. It is characterized
by a subcircular shell, wide vertebral scales, well-developed plastral
fenestrae, and a major contribution from the xiphiplastra to enclose the
hypo-xiphiplastral fenestra. As the first Mesozoic turtle of Jilin Province,
this record represents the first tetrapod to indicate the presence of the
Jehol Biota in the region. Given the geographic and temporal distance from
the Yixian Formation, future collections from the Hengtongshan Formation
have good potential for evaluating spatiotemporal patterns of the Jehol
Biota.
Presence of the Jehol Biota turtle <i>Ordosemys liaoxiensis</i> in the Early Cretaceous Hengtongshan Formation of southern Jilin Province, China
