Prionochelys

{{Speciesbox

| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Santonian|Campanian}}

| genus = Prionochelys

| species = matutina

| authority = Zangerl, 1953

}}

Prionochelys is an extinct genus of pancheloniid from the Mooreville Chalk and Eutaw Formations of Alabama. It consists of a single species, P. matutina.{{Cite journal |last=R |first=Zangerl |date=1953 |title=The vertebrate fauna of the Selma Formation of Alabama. Part 3. The turtles of the family Protostegidae. Part 4. The turtles of the family Toxochelyidae |url=https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1572261549039839104 |journal=Fieldiana Geology Memoirs |volume=3 |pages=61–277}}

Taxonomy

Prionochelys was originally assigned to the family Toxochelyidae. A 2018 paper found it to be on the stem of Chelonioidea, the family to which most modern sea turtles belong, forming a monophyletic grouping named as Ctenochelyidae with Ctenochelys and Peritresius.{{Cite journal |last=Gentry |first=Andrew D. |date=2018-11-01 |title=Prionochelys matutina Zangerl, 1953 (Testudines: Pan-Cheloniidae) from the Late Cretaceous of the United States and the evolution of epithecal ossifications in marine turtles |journal=PeerJ |language=en |volume=6 |pages=e5876 |doi=10.7717/peerj.5876 |pmid=30402356 |issn=2167-8359 |doi-access=free |pmc=6215699 }} Below is a cladogram from the analysis by Gentry, Ebersole & Kiernan (2019):{{cite journal |author1=Gentry, A.D. |author2=Ebersole, J.A. |author3=Kiernan, C.R. |year=2019 |title=Asmodochelys parhami, a new fossil marine turtle from the Campanian Demopolis Chalk and the stratigraphic congruence of competing marine turtle phylogenies |journal=Royal Society Open Science |volume=6 |issue=12 |pages=Article ID 191950 |doi=10.1098/rsos.191950 |pmid=31903219 |pmc=6936288 |bibcode=2019RSOS....691950G }}