New hints about turtle evolution
February 10th 2009 04:46
Turtles have proven among the most elusive lineages to study from an evolutionary perspective. Their relatedness to other groups has always been rather unclear, but a recent discovery could prove vital for a more definitive resolution. The fossil also provides clues as to how the turtle shell evolved.
An excerpt from an article in Scientific American about the find:
"Odontochelys possesses a plastron—the flat, lower half of the shell that protects the animal’s soft belly—but lacks the domed upper half. What this suggests, Li and his colleagues say, is that the shell evolved from the bottom up. In addition, the deposits that yielded the fossil indicate that this animal lived in a marine environment. If so, the plastron would have shielded the turtle’s underside from predators approaching from below."
Continue reading here.
This is an example of how scientific investigation can chip away at our uncertainty. The thrill of an historical science like palaeontologist is that a lost world is being reconstructed.
Odontochelys semitestacea. Image made by Arthur Weasley. From Scientific American
An excerpt from an article in Scientific American about the find:
"Odontochelys possesses a plastron—the flat, lower half of the shell that protects the animal’s soft belly—but lacks the domed upper half. What this suggests, Li and his colleagues say, is that the shell evolved from the bottom up. In addition, the deposits that yielded the fossil indicate that this animal lived in a marine environment. If so, the plastron would have shielded the turtle’s underside from predators approaching from below."
Continue reading here.
This is an example of how scientific investigation can chip away at our uncertainty. The thrill of an historical science like palaeontologist is that a lost world is being reconstructed.
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