(photo in article) Posted on 05/31/2013 8:19:58 AM PDT by kimtom
(photo in article)
How the turtle shell evolved has puzzled scientists for years, but new research sheds light on how their hard shells were formed.
Scientists say the ancient fossil skeleton of an extinct South African reptile has helped bridge a 30 to 55-million-year gap.
This ancestor of the modern turtle, Eunotosaurus, is thought to be around 260 million years old.
It had significant differences to a recently found fossil relative.
Eunotosaurus was discovered over a century ago but new research in the journal Current Biology has only now analysed its differences to other turtle fossils.
Eunotosaurus africanus Skeleton An extinct reptile fossil has helped scientists discover how turtles hard shells are formed A turtle's shell is unique in that it is made up of around 50 bones, with ribs, shoulder bones and vertebrae fused together to form a hard external shell.
How it forms today can be observed in a developing turtle embryo. Ribs broaden first followed by the broadening of vertebrae. The final state is the development of an outer layer of skin on the perimeter of the shell.
"The turtle shell is a complex structure whose initial transformations started over 260 million years ago in the Permian period," said lead author of the study, Dr Tyler Lyson from the Smithsonian Institution and Yale University .........
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
(article photo)
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How it evolved into the liberal skull is still a mystery.
God designed it so. His creativity is infinite. Marvelous.
More benefits to society from the exciting world of marine biology!
Keeping in mind the fact the ‘Evolution’ is based on RANDOM mutations it just as easily could have become a Zebra.
but generally mutations loose data not gain, opposite of thermodynamics.
Lol!!
Coffee comin outa my nose now!!
YBYSAIA
When PBS began showing their nature programs, the state of Evolution only went back, what - just under a million years? Now, they are claiming multi-millions and I even heard a billion years. A billion years?
Now, when I am watching an absolutely beautiful coral reef with all the individual fish with their differently-shaped mouths designed BY GOD to clean all the different crevices and surfaces, my kids will hear me yell out CREATED when they say the word EVOLUTION.
When they push God out of the picture, they fall for anything.
Coffee comin outa my nose now!!
________
Always happy to oblige!
;-)
Not only did it have to evolve the first time. But then it had to split into thousands of unique sub-species, and populate every nook and cranny of the planet in just a few million years.
This theory is incorrect. How they formed is the liberal turtles has the turtle IRS harass the conservative turtles, tax the hell out of them and take their homes, so the conservative turtles had the idea of welding their homes to their bodies.
Yes, Random Mutations that you see on every plant and bug and animal today. Some where, around here, perhaps with the missing transition fossils...
“my kids will hear me yell out CREATED when they say the word EVOLUTION.”
We all blow raspberries in similar circumstances.
It is such a giant and utter lie.
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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I shell ping the list. Thanks kimtom. |
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Notos with the first "o" short (omicron) would mean the south wind (or southwest wind) or the south quarter (or southwest quarter), which makes less sense. The namer of Eunotosaurus thought it had a good back.
I paddle my kayak on nearby Fort Patrick Henry Lake where they are commonly hauled out just like the picture you took. As Stephen Gould said, evolution is punctuated by change with long periods of stability
Also present are fossil snapping turtles and land dwelling box turtles also much like those of today.
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