A sinemydid turtle from the Jehol Biota provides insights into the basal divergence of crown turtles

Zhou, Chaowei; Rabi, Márton

doi:10.1038/srep16299

Cited by 38 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 47 publications

(171 reference statements)

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“…We demonstrate below that this pattern is apparent at two successive phylogenetic levels. Given that some parts of the turtle tree remain controversial, in particular the inclusiveness of Pan-Cryptodira and the interrelationships of sichuanchelyids, helochelydrids, and meiolaniforms [6–12, 25, 26, 41–43, 47], we attempt to present a model that is relatively immune to future changes in the understanding of phylogenetic patterns by highlighting the distinct evolutionary history of seven clades of turtles. These conflicting signals are reflected in the composite topology we utilize herein (Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All species-level phylogenies of the last decade [6–12, 25, 26, 41–43, 47] have converged upon the novel conclusion that the stem lineage leading to the crown is populated by a diverse assemblage of fossil turtles that inhabited all continents from the Triassic to the Pleistocene. All conflicting hypotheses [4–7] have been shown to converge upon this result through minor modifications, in particular the addition of characters, taxa, or new specimens [48, 49].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The character evidence is particularly strong in the basicranial region and these turtles have therefore been collectively united with crown cryptodires in the clade Eucryptodira [83]. Yet, pleurodires have been routinely recovered deep within Eucryptodira (e.g., as sister to Testudinoidea) (e.g., [8, 11, 25, 47]), although the latest study demonstrated that this signal is an analytical artifact [12]. The extremely rich Middle Jurassic to Late Jurassic fossil record of freshwater aquatic pan-cryptodires is restricted to Asia [29, 84, 85], with the exception of marine plesiochelyids and eurysternids found in the Late Jurassic of Europe [31, 46] (Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Turtles are therefore ideal model organisms to investigate global biogeographic patterns as their evolutionary history coincides with the break-up of the supercontinent Pangaea and the secondary assembly of the continents as seen today. The last 25 years of research using computer assisted cladistic analyses have retrieved an increasingly congruous picture of turtle evolution [4–12] but synthetic biogeographic analyses that include fossil taxa are still rare, noncomprehensive, and either failed to retrieve meaningful global patterns [6, 13] or concentrated on the primary clades of crown-cryptodires [14]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A toothed turtle from the Late Jurassic of China and the global biogeographic history of turtles

et al. 2016

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BackgroundTurtles (Testudinata) are a successful lineage of vertebrates with about 350 extant species that inhabit all major oceans and landmasses with tropical to temperate climates. The rich fossil record of turtles documents the adaptation of various sub-lineages to a broad range of habitat preferences, but a synthetic biogeographic model is still lacking for the group.ResultsWe herein describe a new species of fossil turtle from the Late Jurassic of Xinjiang, China, Sichuanchelys palatodentata sp. nov., that is highly unusual by plesiomorphically exhibiting palatal teeth. Phylogenetic analysis places the Late Jurassic Sichuanchelys palatodentata in a clade with the Late Cretaceous Mongolochelys efremovi outside crown group Testudines thereby establishing the prolonged presence of a previously unrecognized clade of turtles in Asia, herein named Sichuanchelyidae. In contrast to previous hypotheses, M. efremovi and Kallokibotion bajazidi are not found within Meiolaniformes, a clade that is here reinterpreted as being restricted to Gondwana.ConclusionsA revision of the global distribution of fossil and recent turtle reveals that the three primary lineages of derived, aquatic turtles, including the crown, Paracryptodira, Pan-Pleurodira, and Pan-Cryptodira can be traced back to the Middle Jurassic of Euramerica, Gondwana, and Asia, respectively, which resulted from the primary break up of Pangaea at that time. The two primary lineages of Pleurodira, Pan-Pelomedusoides and Pan-Chelidae, can similarly be traced back to the Cretaceous of northern and southern Gondwana, respectively, which were separated from one another by a large desert zone during that time. The primary divergence of crown turtles was therefore driven by vicariance to the primary freshwater aquatic habitat of these lineages. The temporally persistent lineages of basal turtles, Helochelydridae, Meiolaniformes, Sichuanchelyidae, can similarly be traced back to the Late Mesozoic of Euramerica, southern Gondwana, and Asia. Given the ambiguous phylogenetic relationships of these three lineages, it is unclear if their diversification was driven by vicariance as well, or if they display a vicariance-like pattern. The clean, primary signal apparent among early turtles is secondarily obliterated throughout the Late Cretaceous to Recent by extensive dispersal of continental turtles and by multiple invasions of marine habitats.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-016-0762-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A toothed turtle from the Late Jurassic of China and the global biogeographic history of turtles

et al. 2016

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“…Joyce (2007) included an expanded sample by scoring Plesiochelys etalloni, Portlandemys mcdowelli, Jurassichelon oleronensis (his "Thalassemys" moseri), and Solnhofia parsonsi as terminal taxa, but they were found in a paraphyletic arrangement. More recent global phylogenetic analyses of turtles continued to include these species as separate terminal taxa Parham 2006, 2008;Sterli 2010;Anquetin 2012;Rabi et al 2013;Sterli et al 2013;Zhou et al 2014;Zhou and Rabi 2015), but none found them to form a monophyletic group.…”

Section: Phylogenetic Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A review of the fossil record of turtles of the clade Thalassochelydia

Anquetin¹,

Püntener²,

Joyce³

2017

Preprint

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POSTPRINTThis is a postprint of the following peer-reviewed publication: AbstractThe Late Jurassic (Oxfordian to Tithonian) fossil record of Europe and South America has yielded a particularly rich assemblage of aquatic pan-cryptodiran turtles that are herein tentatively hypothesized to form a monophyletic group named Thalassochelydia. Thalassochelydians were traditionally referred to three families, Eurysternidae, Plesiochelyidae, and Thalassemydidae, but the current understanding of phylogenetic relationships is insufficient to support the monophyly of either group. Given their pervasive usage in the literature, however, these three names are herein retained informally. Relationships with marine turtles from the Cretaceous have been suggested in the past, but these hypotheses still lack strong character support. Thalassochelydians are universally found in near-shore marine sediments and show adaptations to aquatic habitats, but isotopic evidence hints at a broad spectrum of specializations ranging from freshwater aquatic to fully marine. A taxonomic review of the group concludes that of 68 named taxa, 27 are nomina valida, 18 are nomina invalida, 18 are nomina dubia, and 5 nomina oblita.

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A systematic compendium of turtle mandibular anatomy using digital dissections of soft tissue and osteology

Evers

Ponstein

Jansen

et al. 2022

The Anatomical Record

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Turtles are a charismatic reptile group with a peculiar body plan, which most notably includes the shell. Anatomists have often focused descriptive efforts on the shell and other strongly derived body parts, such as the akinetic skull, or the cervical vertebrae. Other parts of turtle osteology, like the girdles, limbs, and mandibles, are documented with less rigor and detail. The mandible is the primary skeletal element involved in food acquisition and initial food processing of turtles, and its features are thus likely linked to feeding ecology. In addition, the mandible of turtles is composed of up to seven bones (sometimes fused to as little as three) and has thus anatomical complexity that may be insightful for systematic purposes and phylogenetic research. Despite apparent complexity and diversity to the mandible of turtles, this anatomical system has not been systematically studied, not even in search of characters that might improve phylogenetic resolution. Here, we describe the mandibular osteology for all major subclades of extant turtles with the help of digitally dissected 3D models derived from high‐resolution computed tomography (μCT) scans of 70 extant species. We provide 31 fully segmented mandibles, as well as 3D models of the mandibular musculature, innervation, and arterial circulation of the cryptodire Dermatemys mawii. We synthesize observed variation into 51 morphological characters, which we optimize onto a molecular phylogeny. This analysis shows some mandibular characters to have high systematic value, whereas others are highly homoplastic and may underlie ecological influences or other factors invoking variation.

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A sinemydid turtle from the Jehol Biota provides insights into the basal divergence of crown turtles

Cited by 38 publications

References 47 publications

A toothed turtle from the Late Jurassic of China and the global biogeographic history of turtles

A toothed turtle from the Late Jurassic of China and the global biogeographic history of turtles

A review of the fossil record of turtles of the clade Thalassochelydia

A systematic compendium of turtle mandibular anatomy using digital dissections of soft tissue and osteology

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