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How the turtle got its shell

By Guest PostMay 31, 2013Nature, Scienceallison y hsiang, armadillos, China, eunotosaurus, eunotosaurus fossils, evolutionary origin, evolutionary pathway, fossil record, fossil reptile, gabe s bever, histological analysis, history of life, how, jacques a gauthier, modern turtle model, modern turtles, molecular divergence, most living turtles, placodonts, secret of shell, shell, smithsonian institution, South Africa, torsten m scheyer, turtle, turtle shell, tyler lyson, universitaet zuerich, various lizards, vertebrae, yale peabody museum, yale university

The turtle has been in no rush to give up the secret of its shell — but after two centuries of close study, scientists are filling in the story of a structure unique in the history of life.

New research led by Tyler Lyson of Yale University and the Smithsonian Institution pushes back the origins of the turtle shell by about 40 million years, linking it to Eunotosaurus, a 260-million-year-old fossil reptile from South Africa. The work strengthens the fossil record and bolsters an existing theory about shell development while providing new details about its precise evolutionary pathway. (more…)

Did Bone Ease Acid for Early Land Crawlers?

By Guest PostApril 28, 2012Scienceacid buildup, anthracosaur, aquatic animal, aquatic tetrapod, aquatic whatcheeria, berlin, bony skin feature, bony structure, caimans, cell, christine janis, CO2, daniel warren, dermal bone, donald jackson, florian witzmann, four legged creature, Germany, kelly devlin, oxygen molecule, reservoir of antacid, semiterrestrial species, tetrapod, tetrapod fossil, turtle

In a new paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, scientists propose that the bony structures in the skin of many early four-legged creatures might have been there to relieve acid buildup in bodily fluids. Analysis of their anatomy suggests that as they ventured out of water, the animals would have had trouble getting rid of enough CO₂ to prevent acid buildup.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Here’s an anatomical packing list for making that historic trip from water to land circa 370 million years ago: Lungs? Check. Legs? Check. Patches of highly vascular bone in the skin? In a new paper, scientists propose why many of the earliest four-legged creatures that dared breathe on land carried bony skin features. (more…)

Epic Journeys of Turtles Revealed

By Guest PostJanuary 7, 20111 commentNatureatlantic population, breeding colony, brendan godley, central africa, epic ocean spanning journeys, gabon, high seas, howard rosenbaum, leatherback turtle, leatherbacks, matthew witt, migration behavior, migratory routes, pacific ocean, parcs gabon, satellite tracking, south atlantic, turtle

The epic ocean-spanning journeys of the gigantic leatherback turtle in the South Atlantic have been revealed for the first time thanks to groundbreaking research using satellite tracking.

Experts at the Centre for Ecology and Conservation (Cornwall) at the University of Exeter led a five-year study to find out more about these increasingly rare creatures and inform conservation efforts. (more…)

Tag Archives: turtle

How the turtle got its shell

Did Bone Ease Acid for Early Land Crawlers?

Epic Journeys of Turtles Revealed