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Why Don’t Turtles Still Have Tail Spikes? Researchers Explain Why Tail Weaponry Is Rare

By Guest PostAugust 14, 2018Natureancient turtles, evolution, lindsay zanno, tail spikes, tail weaponry, turtles, victoria arbour

We’re all familiar with those awesome armored giants of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods – Stegosaurus and Ankylosaurus – and their amazing, weaponized tails. But why aren’t similar weaponized tails found in animals living today? In a study covering 300 million years of evolutionary history, researchers from North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences found four necessary components to tail weapon development: size, armor, herbivory and thoracic stiffness. (more…)

Research in the news: Eunotosaurus has the early word on turtles

By Guest PostOctober 1, 2015Natureanbindung an gott, bhart anjan bhullar, DNA, erzdioezese berlin, eunotosaurus, fossils, genetic analysis, katholischer priester, konrad heil, mick ellison, paleontologists, petermann gletscher, reptile, turtles, tyler lyson, was bedeutet religion

There’s a twist in the turtle timeline.

Thanks to new fossil evidence, paleontologists are able to prove that turtles share a recent common ancestor with birds and crocodiles. The discovery may settle a longstanding argument among scientists about the origins of turtles. (more…)

Study finds turtles are closer kin to birds, crocodiles than to lizards, snakes

By Guest PostMay 12, 2014Scienceandre nel, birds, coen hofstede, crocodiles, crocodilians, dna sequence, effective radiation shielding, evolutionary history, folforinox, lizards, metal foam, micrornas, paul bons, petermann gletscher, smithsonian institution, snakes, turtles, tyler lyson, yale university

What are turtles, and where did they come from?

Precise answers to these questions have long eluded scientists. But new research led by Daniel Field of Yale University and the Smithsonian Institution recasts the turtle’s disputed evolutionary history, providing fresh evidence that the familiar reptiles are more closely related to birds and crocodiles than to lizards and snakes. (more…)

New Research Revises Conventions for Deciphering Color in Dinosaurs While Suggesting Connection between Color and Physiology

By Guest PostFebruary 14, 2014Nature, Scienceanchiornis, ancient maniraptoran dinosaurs, austin, chang fu zhou, change, china university, cold blooded, color in dinosaurs, crocodiles, deciphering, dinosaur physiology, diverse melanosomes, diversity, ectothermic, endothermic, evolutionary emergence, evolutionary role, julia clarke, ke qin gao, lizards, matthew shawkey, microraptor, paravians, protofeathers, pycnofibers, quanguo li, sinosauropteryx, turtles, university of akron, university of texas, warm blooded

AUSTIN, Texas — New research that revises recently established conventions allowing scientists to decipher color in dinosaurs may also provide a tool for understanding the evolutionary emergence of flight and changes in dinosaur physiology prior to the origin of flight.

In a survey comparing the hair, skin, fuzz and feathers of living terrestrial vertebrates and fossil specimens, a research team from The University of Texas at Austin, The University of Akron, the China University of Geosciences and four other Chinese institutions found evidence for evolutionary shifts in the relationship between color and the shape of pigment-containing organelles known as melanosomes, as reported in the Feb. 13 edition of Nature. (more…)

MU, Westminster Researchers Find Reduced Bone Density, Stunted Growth in Turtles Exposed to Common Chemical

By Guest PostNovember 16, 2011Environment, Naturebone density, exposure to chemicals, indicator species, pcb exposed turtles, pcb exposure, pentachlorobiphenyls, regulation of hormones, turtles

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Manufactured until 1977, and banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1979, pentachlorobiphenyls (PCBs) are chemicals still commonly found in the environment because they break down slowly. (more…)

UF-led study: Invasive Amphibians, Reptiles in Florida Outnumber World

By Guest PostSeptember 24, 2011Environment, Scienceamerican alligator, bishop museum in honolulu, brown anole, burmese pythons, cargo ships, cement walls, Cuba, everglades, florida, florida museum of natural history, fred kraus, greenhouse frog, iguanas, invasion of lizards, invasive amphibian and reptile, kenneth krysko, lizards, python, turtles, university of florida, west indies, zootaxa

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida has the world’s worst invasive amphibian and reptile problem, and a new 20-year study led by a University of Florida researcher verifies the pet trade as the No. 1 cause of the species’ introductions.

From 1863 through 2010, 137 non-native amphibian and reptile species were introduced to Florida, with about 25 percent of those traced to one animal importer. The findings appear online today in Zootaxa. (more…)

Discovery Places Turtles Next to Lizards on Family Tree

By Guest PostJuly 22, 2011Nature, Sciencebirds, body armor, classify the strange animals, creatures' shells, crocodiles and birds, dartmouth college, evolutionary tree, harvard university, lizards and snakes, paleobiologist, retractable heads, systematics, turtles, tyler lyson, yale university

Where do turtles belong on the evolutionary tree? For decades, the mystery has proven as tough to crack as the creatures’ shells. With their body armor and retractable heads, turtles are such unique creatures that scientists have found it difficult to classify the strange animals in terms of their origins and closest relatives.

“We know turtles evolved from a common ancestor along with birds, lizards and snakes about 300 million years ago, but who modern-day turtles are most closely related to is one of the biggest and most controversial questions in the field of systematics,” said Tyler Lyson, a Yale University graduate student who studies the evolutionary relationships between different animal groups. (more…)

Africa’s Sea Turtles Need Passports for Protection

By Guest PostMay 13, 2011Natureangela formia, brendan godley, coast of central africa, conkouati douli national park, cornwall campus, disney worldwide conservation fund, endangered sea turtles, fishing nets, gabon, marine park, mayumba national park, olive ridley sea turtles, republic of the congo, sara maxwell, satellite tracking, satellite transmitters, turtles, university of california santa cruz, university of exeter

Research by experts at the University of Exeter has led to calls to create an international marine park to protect endangered sea turtles.

Scientists from the university’s Centre for Ecology and Conservation, based at its Cornwall Campus, worked with an international team to carry out satellite tracking of olive ridley sea turtles off the coast of Central Africa for the study. (more…)

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