![]() ![]() acris with those of both extinct and living species of turtles, Gentry discovered that C. acris suggests the earliest ancestors of modern sea turtles may have come from the Deep South. "But most of those lineages went extinct, making the exact origins of living or 'true' sea turtles somewhat of a mystery."Įvidence gathered from the fossils of C. "There is strong evidence which indicates freshwater turtles may have evolved to occupy marine environments at several points in the past," Gentry said. acris existed, they may also be a critical piece in a much larger puzzle of sea turtle evolution. Not only do the newly discovered fossils prove C. acris had been documented that most paleontologists doubted the species was real. Before the cataclysm that claimed the dinosaurs, there may have been dozens of specialized species of sea turtle living in different oceanic habitats around the world."īefore this research, so little fossil evidence for C. ![]() "Represented today by only seven living species, sea turtles were once one of the most diverse lineages of marine reptiles. "Climatic warming during the mid-Cretaceous resulted in elevated sea levels and temperatures that, in turn, provided an abundance of new niches for marine turtles to invade," said Drew Gentry, a UAB biology doctoral student and the lead researcher on the project. acris is presumed to have lived more than 80 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous, a period of time when sea turtle diversity was at an all-time high. By dating the rock formation from which these fossils were recovered, C. They also provide insights into the evolutionary history of living species of sea turtles, including the Kemp's Ridley, Loggerhead and the endangered Green sea turtle.Īccording to research published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, the fossils belong to Ctenochelys (tee-no-key-lees) acris, a marine-adapted turtle that lived in the shallow, subtropical sea that once covered most of Alabama. The McWane fossils help solve a long-standing debate as to whether this animal was a unique species. Researchers from the College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Biology worked with two relatively complete turtle skeletons, along with several smaller pieces, that are housed at Birmingham's McWane Science Center, to unearth the evolutionary clues tying the ancient turtles to modern sea turtles, and confirm the existence of that ancient species, previously known only from a few isolated fragments. ![]()
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