The Turtle's Long-Lost Relative

Lee, Michael

Its ancestors evolved many turtle like traits before they acquired shells. A prominent zoologist once quipped that the only thing turtles have done since the Triassic, some 200 million years ago, is survive. This assessment seems a bit harsh, however, considering the variety of environments that they have conquered. Today, turtles thrive in oceans, rain forests, and deserts. Yet underlying this ecological diversity is a surprising degree of anatomical uniformity. No one has any difficulty recognizing a turtle: in all turtles the body is encased within a rigid, bony box. No other animal has a body architecture that is even remotely similar. But where do turtles come from? The oldest fossil turtles (along with the earliest dinosaurs) appear abruptly in Triassic rocks, fully developed and without any obvious precursors. Details of their skull suggested that they evolved from a group of primitive reptiles, but none could be readily identified as turtle ancestors. Despite more than a century of research, the origin of turtles remains a major enigma.

The Turtle's Long-Lost Relative

Series