Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) chelonian burrows preserved in floodplain deposits in the Bauru Basin of Brazil: Evidence for the fossorial origin of turtle shells

Silva, Gabriel Teófilo Guedes; Nascimento, Diego Luciano do; Batezelli, Alessandro; Ladeira, Francisco Sérgio Bernardes; Silva, Márcio Luiz da

doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2022.110994

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Many turtle species that hibernate terrestrially face physical challenges associated with leaving the water, such as the risk of freezing or dehydration [ 10 ]. However, as long as they are able to overcome freezing or dehydration—by excavating or occupying burrows or burying themselves in mud—hibernation on land poses fewer risks of hypoxia and predation [ 4 , 10 , 11 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hibernation in Reeves’ Turtles (Mauremys reevesii) in Qichun County, Hubei Province, China: Hibernation Beginning and End and Habitat Selection

Bu¹,

Ye²,

Shi³

2022

Animals

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Hibernation protects turtles from extreme winter conditions. Reeves’ turtle (Mauremys reevesii) is a medium-sized aquatic turtle that lives in freshwater habitats in lowland areas with still or slowly moving water. Currently, little is known regarding its overwintering behavior. In the current study, 20 Reeves’ turtles from the wild were investigated using radiotelemetry in the field to determine the beginning and end dates of, and habitat selected for, hibernation. Hibernation began in late October 2021 and arousal began in March 2022. Reeves’ turtles do not appear to be limited in their selection of suitable hibernation habitats, which included fish ponds, abandoned ponds (ponds not being used for farming), marshes, and abandoned fields (fields not being used for farming). In the aquatic hibernation habitats, only herbage cover was significantly different between the selected and random habitats (t = 2.525, df = 9, p = 0.033). In the terrestrial hibernation habitats, there were significant differences in the canopy (Z = −2.201, p = 0.028), slope gradient (Z = −2.032, p = 0.042), herbage cover (Z = −2.379, p = 0.017), and distance from the habitat edge (Z = −2.524, p = 0.012) between the selected and random habitats. This indicates that Reeves’ turtles prefer to hibernate at the soft edges of flat habitats with low canopy and high herbage cover when hibernating in terrestrial habitats and prefer to hibernate at sites with high herbage cover when hibernating in aquatic habitats. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate hibernation in wild Reeves’ turtles in the field, and the results identify key ecological variables correlated with habitat selection during hibernation. This knowledge could inform local conservation measures related to farming activities.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hibernation in Reeves’ Turtles (Mauremys reevesii) in Qichun County, Hubei Province, China: Hibernation Beginning and End and Habitat Selection

Bu¹,

Ye²,

Shi³

2022

Animals

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“…Fossil records of chelonian burrows in the Cretaceous period could have been used for aestivation in the extinct species Bauruemys elegans (Silva et al 2022). However, is impossible to determine a speci c function accurately, since also these chelonian burrows could well be used for other functions such as thermoregulation, reproduction, breeding or nesting.…”

Section: Evolutionary History Of Aestivation In Turtlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

How aestivation evolve in turtles? a macroevolutionary and morphological approach

Macip-Ríos

Butterfield

Raya‐García

2022

Preprint

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Apart from hibernation, dormancy strategies in animals have been understudied. Aestivation is a functional and behavioral trait that responds to the effects of water reduction during dry and hot seasons. It has been detected in many species of terrestrial and aquatic turtles, however, several ecological and evolutionary aspects of chelonian aestivation remain to be evaluated and understood. We conducted a comparative exploration of macroevolutionary trends in turtle aestivation and tested the potential effect of shell morphology on the aestivation times. We compiled a dataset of aestivation status, aestivation times, and measurements of shell morphology of 225 turtle species. We reconstructed ancestral states along a time-calibrated phylogeny and tested different models with compared evolutionary rate changes on traits associated with aestivation. We also performed phylogenetic comparative analysis to explore shell morphological variables likely associated with maximum and mean aestivation times. We found evidence of aestivation in 44 percent of the evaluated turtle species. The longest aestivation times were found in the Chelidae, Pelomedusidae, Geoemydidae, and Kinosternidae, and shortest times were detected for Emydidae and Testudinidae. Inference of ancestral states revealed that turtle aestivation is a derived trait with multiple evolutions in the two major turtle clades. We found clade-specific evolutionary trends, with some clades showing increased aestivation (e.g., Pelomedusidae and Kinosternidae), clades exhibiting aestivation losses (e.g., Podocnemididae and Trionychidae) and contrasting patterns (loss vs. maintenance) in most clades of Testudinidae and Geoemydidae families. Otherwise, additive effects of different shell morphological variables correlated both positively and negatively with maximum aestivation times across most chelonian families. This is the first study exploring the evolution of aestivation in turtles and provides evidence that shell morphology in different chelonian families can influence aestivation time. We conclude that aestivation in turtles is a complex ecological and evolutionary process which needs to be studied in more detail.

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“…The burrow lacks diagnostic features (such as the presence of surface ornamentation or bilobate floor (Cardonatto & Melchor, 2021) that allows recognizing a particular producer. Thus, phenetic and coincident correlations (following Carrano & Wilson, 2001) are necessary to tentatively infer a tracemaker among the vertebrate groups present in the Adamantina Formation (mainly crocodylians and dinosaurs) and the Late Cretaceous units of the Bauru Group, such as lungfishes and turtles (see Alves et al, 2013, Martinelli & Teixeira, 2015Silva et al, 2022). Anurans, lepidosaurs, and mammals were excluded a priori from the comparison due the lack of sufficient data regarding potential fossorial habits on the Bauru Group specimens, the controversial taxonomy of some materials, and on the fact that the species known from the Bauru Group are too small to fit the producer of the burrow described here.…”

Section: On the Origin Of The Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, ornithischians were not found in the Adamantina Formation yet, and none of the dinosaur taxa known in this unit (sauropods and theropods) present osteological anatomy that suggest adaptation for deep excavation or fossorial life (Martinelli & Teixeira, 2015;Martinelli et al, 2019). Silva et al (2022) described several burrows from the Adamantina Formation in São Paulo State, assigning them to terrapins, mainly Podocnemididae. They differ from the burrow described herein by being simple tunnels, with flat floors, low inclination (22°) and lack of chambers or expansions (Silva et al, 2022).…”

Section: On the Origin Of The Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Vertebrate burrows are relatively understudied in the Brazilian Mesozoic units, and in Cretaceous rocks worldwide. In Brazil, they occur in the Permian-Triassic Buena Vista Formation (formerly the "Piramboia Formation", Francischini et al, 2018), the Norian Caturrita Formation (Silva & Dominato, 2010), the Upper Jurassic Guará Formation (Dentzien-Dias et al, 2008), the Lower Cretaceous Botucatu Formation (Manes et al, 2021), and in the Upper Cretaceous Marília and Adamantina formations (Martinelli et al, 2019;Silva et al, 2022). In other hand, Cretaceous burrows attributed to lungfishes are common worldwide (Surlyk et al, 2008;Marshall & Rogers, 2012;Fanti et al, 2016), associated to its aestivation behavior that generated chambers with variable morphologies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A possible lungfish burrow in the Upper Cretaceous Adamantina Formation (Bauru Basin, Brazil) and its paleoecological and paleoenvironmental significance

Rangel¹,

Francischini²,

Rodrigues³

et al. 2022

Rev. bras. paleontol.

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Vertebrates produce a variety of trace fossils, mostly tracks and trackways, coprolites, and burrows resulting from fossorial and subterranean habits. Burrows, particularly, tend to represent temporary or permanent shelter. Vertebrate burrows are relatively understudied in the Brazilian Mesozoic units, as well as in Cretaceous rocks worldwide. This study aims to analyze a paleoburrow in the Upper Cretaceous Adamantina Formation and to discuss its paleobiological and paleoenvironmental implications. A descriptive study was carried out on the paleoburrow morphology, following aspects such as orientation, architecture, and dimensions, and facies association analysis provided the interpretation of the paleoenvironment in which the tracemaker lived. The origin of the paleoburrow was highlighted, as well as the size of its possible producer, besides inferring the exposure time of the paleoburrow from taphonomic interpretations, which contains allochthonous bone remains. The results suggest long periods of dry conditions, as previously suggested for the much-debated Adamantina Formation, interrupted by flooding events as evidenced by facies analysis and suggested by the lungfish burrow. The possibility of a lungfish record also expands the presence of these animals to Adamantina Formation, even though more data are needed to understand the paleoecology of these formations. Keywords: lungfish, paleoburrow, floodplain, Adamantina Formation.

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Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) chelonian burrows preserved in floodplain deposits in the Bauru Basin of Brazil: Evidence for the fossorial origin of turtle shells

Cited by 6 publications

References 67 publications

Hibernation in Reeves’ Turtles (Mauremys reevesii) in Qichun County, Hubei Province, China: Hibernation Beginning and End and Habitat Selection

Hibernation in Reeves’ Turtles (Mauremys reevesii) in Qichun County, Hubei Province, China: Hibernation Beginning and End and Habitat Selection

How aestivation evolve in turtles? a macroevolutionary and morphological approach

A possible lungfish burrow in the Upper Cretaceous Adamantina Formation (Bauru Basin, Brazil) and its paleoecological and paleoenvironmental significance

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