460 University of California Publications in Geology [Vol. 11 



6b 



The peripherals are united with the eostals by a union apparently- 

 consisting in each case of a process from the peripheral meeting the 

 end of the costal. The end of the costal evidently passes the outer side 

 of the process of the peripheral and fits into a pit on the peripheral. 



The plastron projects considerably beyond the anterior end of the 

 carapace in the type specimen and in the large individual no. 21574. 

 The anterior and posterior ends are both distinctly notched. 



The entoplastron is rhomboidal 

 to hexagonal with an angle devel- 

 oped on each posterior border. The 

 hypoplastral-xiphiplastral suture is 

 some distance behind the inguinal 

 notch. 



The epiplastral lip is not clearly 

 defined on the anterior border of 

 the plastron, but the lip is strongly 

 developed superiorly. The consid- 

 erably thickened upper portion of 

 the lip projects backward on the 

 type specimen to a point imme- 

 diately over or slightly posterior to 

 the anterior end of the entoplastron 

 as it appears on the inferior side 

 of the plastron. On a portion of a 

 large specimen, no. 21573 (fig. 6a) 

 the same relations are observed, but 

 the epiplastral bones overlap the entoplastron superiorly, so that the 

 suture on the upper side is farther from the anterior border. In the 

 type specimen the anterior end of the inferior surface of the epiplas- 

 tral region is nearly flat. In no. 21573 the anterior end is sharply 

 curved upward (fig. 6b). 



The sulci between dermal scutes of the type specimen are sharply 

 impressed but do not have raised borders. The nuchal scute is con- 

 siderably wider in the type specimen than in no. 21574. In the type, 

 the sulcus between vertebral scutes three and four crosses the sixth 

 instead of the fifth neural as in most species. 



On the plastron the humero-pectoral sulcus is well behind -the 

 posterior end of the entoplastron. The pectoral scutes have an antero- 

 posterior diameter of 27 mm. on the median side as compared with a 

 width of 49 mm. for the abdominal scutes. This is an unusual width 

 for pectoral scutes in Testudo, or even in the more primitive Stylemys. 



Figs. 6a and 6b. Testudo moliav- 

 ense?, n. sp. Anterior portion of 

 plastron, no. 21573, X %. Fig. 6a, 

 dorsal view of plastron with section 

 along median line; fig. 6b , anterior 

 view of lip of plastron. Barstow 

 Miocene, Mohave Desert, California. 



