The position of testudines in vertebrate phylogeny is being re-evaluated. At present, testudine morphological and molecular data conflict when reconstructing phylogenetic relationships. Complicating matters, the ecological niche of stem testudines is ambiguous. To understand how turtles have evolved to hear in different environments, we examined middle ear morphology and scaling in most extant ...

BRADLEY T. MARTIN, NEIL P. BERNSTEIN, ROGER D. BIRKHEAD, JIM F. KOUKL, STEVEN M. MUSSMANN & JOHN S. PLACYK, JR. 1Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA 2Deptartment of Natural and Applied Sciences, Mount Mercy University, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402, USA 3Alabama Science in Motion, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA 4Department of Biology, Univer...

The discovery of a new stem turtle from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) deposits of the Isle of Skye, Scotland, sheds new light on the early evolutionary history of Testudinata. Eileanchelys waldmani gen. et sp. nov. is known from cranial and postcranial material of several individuals and represents the most complete Middle Jurassic turtle described to date, bridging the morphological gap betw...

The approximately 356 species of testudines (turtles) are remarkable for their blend phylogenetic conservatism and diversity [...]

The taxonomy of giant Galapagos tortoises (Chelonoidis spp.) is currently based primarily on morphological characters and island of origin. Over the last decade, compelling genetic evidence has accumulated for multiple independent evolutionary lineages, spurring the need for taxonomic revision. On the island of Santa Cruz there is currently a single named species, C. porteri. Recent genetic and...

the reptile's fauna of sabzevar was investigated during 10 years (2003-2013). in total 43 species belonging to 29 genera, 13families and two orders (squamata and testudines) were collected and identified. the most diverse group in the area is lizards with 23 species, followed by snakes with 18 species and the testudines with one species. the most diverse families are colubridae , lacertidae wit...

Ectotherms have close physiological ties with the thermal environment; consequently, the impact of future climate change on their biogeographic distributions is of major interest. Here, we use the modern and deep-time fossil record of testudines (turtles, tortoises, and terrapins) to provide the first test of climate on the niche limits of both extant and extinct (Late Cretaceous, Maastrichtian...

Testudines or queloniums generally have similar morphological characteristics. Chelonians belong to the group of reptiles, subclass Anapsidia, as well order Chelonia Testudinata. Chellus fimbriatus (Schneider 1783) is a typical South American turtle, and popularly known mata-mata. It species considered exotic, in view its external appearance, with projections fibrillated nailed. Differentiated ...

On the occasion of having collected three gravid Geochelone carbonaria in the Bolivian Chaco, data are given on oviducal eggs, as well as on five shells of eggs of the same species in the Museum collection. A review of the literature on the reproduction of G. carbonaria and of its sibling G. denticulata is presented, with an elementary statistical treatment of the data on number of clutches per...

Evidence is compiled suggesting a slowdown in mean microevolutionary rate for turtle mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Within each of six species or species complexes of Testudines, representing six genera and three taxonomic families, sequence divergence estimates derived from restriction assays are consistently lower than expectations based on either (a) the dates of particular geographic barriers w...