Journal ArticleDOI
An ancestral turtle from the Late Triassic of southwestern China
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A new 220-million-year-old turtle from China is described that documents an intermediate step in the evolution of the shell and associated structures and shows that the turtle shell is not derived from a fusion of osteoderms.Abstract:
A well preserved 220-million-year-old fossil from marine deposits of the Late Triassic of Guizhou in southwest China sheds light on the intermediate steps in the acquisition of the unique turtle body-plan. Transitional forms are scarce in this lineage, making this transition one of the mysteries of reptile evolution. The find is the most primitive turtle known. It has a fully developed plastron, the ventral dermal armour, evolved before the carapace, the dorsal (upper) part of the shell structure. In this fossil the carapace consists of neural plates only. This suggest that the carapace developed via ossification of the neural plates and broadening of the ribs — a sequence that echoes the developmental pattern in young turtles today. 220-million-year-old fossils from southwestern China represent the most primitive turtle known, and shed light on intermediate steps in the acquisition of the unique and highly specialized turtle body-plan. The origin of the turtle body plan remains one of the great mysteries of reptile evolution. The anatomy of turtles is highly derived, which renders it difficult to establish the relationships of turtles with other groups of reptiles. The oldest known turtle, Proganochelys from the Late Triassic period of Germany1, has a fully formed shell and offers no clue as to its origin. Here we describe a new 220-million-year-old turtle from China, somewhat older than Proganochelys, that documents an intermediate step in the evolution of the shell and associated structures. A ventral plastron is fully developed, but the dorsal carapace consists of neural plates only. The dorsal ribs are expanded, and osteoderms are absent. The new species shows that the plastron evolved before the carapace and that the first step of carapace formation is the ossification of the neural plates coupled with a broadening of the ribs. This corresponds to early embryonic stages of carapace formation in extant turtles, and shows that the turtle shell is not derived from a fusion of osteoderms. Phylogenetic analysis places the new species basal to all known turtles, fossil and extant. The marine deposits that yielded the fossils indicate that this primitive turtle inhabited marginal areas of the sea or river deltas.read more
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The draft genomes of soft-shell turtle and green sea turtle yield insights into the development and evolution of the turtle-specific body plan
Zhuo Wang,Juan Pascual-Anaya,Amonida Zadissa,Wenqi Li,Yoshihito Niimura,Zhiyong Huang,Chunyi Li,Simon D. M. White,Zhiqiang Xiong,Dongming Fang,Bo Wang,Yao Ming,Yan Chen,Yuan Zheng,Shigehiro Kuraku,Miguel Pignatelli,Javier Herrero,Kathryn Beal,Masafumi Nozawa,Qiye Li,Juan Wang,Hongyan Zhang,Lili Yu,Shuji Shigenobu,Junyi Wang,Jiannan Liu,Paul Flicek,Steve Searle,Jun Wang,Jun Wang,Shigeru Kuratani,Ye Yin,Bronwen Aken,Guojie Zhang,Naoki Irie +34 more
TL;DR: The results suggest that turtle evolution was accompanied by an unexpectedly conservative vertebrate phylotypic period, followed by turtle-specific repatterning of development to yield the novel structure of the shell.
Journal ArticleDOI
The western painted turtle genome, a model for the evolution of extreme physiological adaptations in a slowly evolving lineage
H. Bradley Shaffer,Patrick Minx,Daniel E. Warren,Andrew M. Shedlock,Andrew M. Shedlock,Robert C. Thomson,Nicole Valenzuela,John Abramyan,Chris T. Amemiya,Daleen Badenhorst,Kyle K. Biggar,Glen M. Borchert,Glen M. Borchert,Christopher W. Botka,Rachel M. Bowden,Edward L. Braun,Anne M. Bronikowski,Benoit G. Bruneau,Leslie T. Buck,Blanche Capel,Todd A. Castoe,Todd A. Castoe,Michael Czerwinski,Kim D. Delehaunty,Scott V. Edwards,Catrina Fronick,Matthew K. Fujita,Matthew K. Fujita,Lucinda Fulton,Tina Graves,Richard E. Green,Wilfried Haerty,Ramkumar Hariharan,Omar E. Hernandez,LaDeana W. Hillier,Alisha K. Holloway,Daniel E. Janes,Fredric J. Janzen,Cyriac Kandoth,Lesheng Kong,A. P. Jason de Koning,Yang I. Li,Robert Literman,Suzanne E. McGaugh,Lindsey Mork,Michelle O'Laughlin,Ryan T. Paitz,David D. Pollock,Chris P. Ponting,Srihari Radhakrishnan,Brian J. Raney,Joy M. Richman,John St. John,Tonia S. Schwartz,Arun Sethuraman,Phillip Q. Spinks,Kenneth B. Storey,Nay Thane,Tomas Vinar,Laura M. Zimmerman,Wesley C. Warren,Elaine R. Mardis,Richard K. Wilson +62 more
TL;DR: Common vertebrate regulatory networks, some of which have analogs in human diseases, are often involved in the western painted turtle's extraordinary physiological capacities, and may offer important insights into the management of a number of human health disorders.
Journal ArticleDOI
A Global Analysis of Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Distributions with Identification of Priority Conservation Areas
Kurt A. Buhlmann,Thomas S. B. Akre,John B. Iverson,Deno J. Karapatakis,Deno J. Karapatakis,Russell A. Mittermeier,Arthur Georges,Anders G. J. Rhodin,Peter Paul van Dijk,J. Whitfield Gibbons +9 more
TL;DR: This work compiled museum and literature occurrence records for all of the world's tortoises and freshwater turtle species to determine their distributions and identify priority regions for conservation and identifies 3 new global Turtle Priority Areas for conservation based on aggregated Ecoregions.
Journal ArticleDOI
The integumentary skeleton of tetrapods: origin, evolution, and development
TL;DR: Data support the notion that all osteoderms are derivatives of a neural crest‐derived osteogenic cell population and share a deep homology associated with the skeletogenic competence of the dermis, and that skeletogenesis is comparable with the formation of elasmoid scales.
Journal ArticleDOI
Homeotic effects, somitogenesis and the evolution of vertebral numbers in recent and fossil amniotes
Johannes Müller,Torsten M. Scheyer,Jason J. Head,Paul M. Barrett,Ingmar Werneburg,Per G. P. Ericson,Diego Pol,Marcelo R. Sánchez-Villagra +7 more
TL;DR: It is shown that the mammalian (synapsid) and reptilian lineages show early in their evolutionary histories clear divergences in axial developmental plasticity, in terms of both regionalization and meristic change, with basal synapsids sharing the conserved axial configuration of crown mammals, and basal reptiles demonstrating the plasticity of extant taxa.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
A series of stages in the embryonic development of Chelydra serpentina.
C. L. Yntema,C. L. Yntema +1 more
TL;DR: Eggs of the common snapping turtle, Chelydra serpentina serpentina, were incubated at 30°C and at 20°C to determine the incubation period and a series of 26 stages of development is described.
Journal ArticleDOI
Phylogenetic Relationships of Mesozoic Turtles
TL;DR: This revised topology has important implications for the evolution of several character complexes, because it implies that the common ancestor of all living turtles must have had a partially braced brain case and a primitive trochlear mechanism.
Journal ArticleDOI
Morphogenesis of the turtle shell: the development of a novel structure in tetrapod evolution
TL;DR: An anatomical investigations into plastron and carapace formation in the red‐eared slider, Trachemys scripta, and the snapping turtle, Chelydra serpentina suggest that the rib is organizing dermal ossification by secreting paracrine factors.