Kallokibotion


Kallokibotion is an extinct genus of stem-turtle from the Upper Cretaceous, known from fossils found in Romania. One species is known, Kallokibotion bajazidi, which was named by Franz Nopcsa after his lover Bajazid Doda. It literally means 'beautiful box of Bajazid'; Nopcsa chose the name because, in the words of British palaeontologist Gareth Dyke, "the shape of the shell reminded him of Bajazid's arse". A second undescribed species is known from the Santonian of Hungary. A fossil of this turtle was mistakenly described as a pterosaur of the genus Thalassodromeus in 2014. It was originally identified as a Meiolaniid. However, phylogenetic analysis based on characters described from new specimens place Kallokibotion as the sister taxon of the crown Testudines.