Gilmoremys
Gilmoremys is an extinct softshell turtle that lived in the late Cretaceous period (Maastrichtian) in what is now North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming, USA. It is known from five skulls, a jaw, and an incomplete skeleton. The best-preserved specimen, the holotype of G. lancensis (USNM 6727), has a nearly complete shell and a fragment of the inner shell bone. It was first named Aspideretes lancensis, but later research moved it to its own genus, Gilmoremys, in 2011. The species lancensis is the type species, and the genus name honors paleontologist Charles W. Gilmore. Fossils come from the Hell Creek Formation and the Lance Formation.
A second species, G. gettyspherensis, comes from the Fruitland Formation in New Mexico and dates to the late Campanian, earlier than the Maastrichtian. Juvenile skulls of this species are narrow, but adults have broader skulls and other skull changes as they grew.
Other large softshell turtle skulls and shell fragments from the Hell Creek Formation in Carter County, Montana, show these turtles reached bigger sizes and represent growth toward the adult form.
In evolutionary analyses, Gilmoremys is placed within the softshell turtles (Trionychinae), related to other late Cretaceous genera such as Plastomenus.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 14:22 (CET).