Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 17 July 1987:
Vol. 237. no. 4812, pp. 289 - 291
DOI: 10.1126/science.237.4812.289
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Modern Turtle Origins: The Oldest Known Cryptodire

EUGENE S. GAFFNEY 1, J. HOWARD HUTCHISON 2, FARISH A. JENKINS JR. 3, and LORRAINE J. MEEKER 1

1 Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024.
2 Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720.
3 Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138.

The discovery of a turtle in the Early Jurassic(185 million years before present) Kayenta Formation of northeastern Arizona provides significant evidence about the origin of modern turtles. This new taxon possesses many of the primitive features expected in the hypothetical common ancestor of pleurodires and cryptodires, the two groups of modern turtles. It is identified as the oldest known cryptodire because of the presence of a distinctive cryptodiran jaw mechanism consisting of a trochlea over the otic chamber that redirects the line of action of the adductor muscle. Aquatic habits appear to have developed very early in turtle evolution. Kayentachelys extends the known record of cryptodires back at least 45 million years and documents a very early stage in the evolution of modern turtles.

Submitted on February 24, 1987
Accepted on May 11, 1987


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
A new stem turtle from the Middle Jurassic of Scotland: new insights into the evolution and palaeoecology of basal turtles.
J. Anquetin, P. M Barrett, M. E.H Jones, S. Moore-Fay, and S. E Evans (2009)
Proc R Soc B 276, 879-886
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A new, nearly complete stem turtle from the Jurassic of South America with implications for turtle evolution.
J. Sterli (2008)
Biol Lett 4, 286-289
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
DEVELOPING A PROTOCOL FOR THE CONVERSION OF RANK-BASED TAXON NAMES TO PHYLOGENETICALLY DEFINED CLADE NAMES, AS EXEMPLIFIED BY TURTLES.
(2004)
Journal of Paleontology 78, 989-1013
Middle Jurassic turtles from southern Thailand.
H. Tong, H. TONG, E. BUFFETAUT, and V. SUTEETHORN (2002)
Geological Magazine 139, 687-697
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Intrinsic Mechanics and Control of Fast Cranio-Cervical Movements in Aquatic Feeding Turtles.
P. Aerts, J. van Damme, and A. Herrel (2001)
Integr. Comp. Biol. 41, 1299-1310
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Late Triassic Turtles from South America.
G. W. Rougier, G. W. Rougier, M. S. de la Fuente, and A. B. Arcucci (1995)
Science 268, 855-858
   Abstract »    PDF »
The Origin of the Turtle Body Plan: Bridging a Famous Morphological Gap.
M. S. Y. Lee and M. S. Y. Lee (1993)
Science 261, 1716-1720
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)