A newly discovered early turtle fossil from 228 million years ago is missing something crucial: its shell. But in the long, intriguing tale of turtle evolution, turtles didn't always have it all -- ...

Do turtle shells actually consist of modified ribs? The answer, surprisingly, is yes. This weird-but-true claim went viral in mid-June 2021 when Twitter user and post-doctorate turtle expert Ceri ...

Unique among Earth’s creatures, turtles are the only animals to form a shell on the outside of their bodies through a fusion of modified ribs, vertebrae and shoulder girdle bones. The turtle shell is ...

Turtles (Testudines) have captivated evolutionary biologists for decades due to their distinct morphology and ancient origins. Recent studies have elucidated the evolutionary transformations that led ...

Ever consider the question of whether a turtle can truly pull its head into its shell like a cartoon representation in a children’s tale? The answer is far from being merely yes or no. As mentioned in ...

A research team led by NYIT scientist Gaberiel Bever has determined that a 260-million year-old fossil species found in South Africa's Karoo Basin provides a long awaited glimpse into the murky ...

The results of this study suggest that the unique skin morphology of the turtle shell evolved by adaptations of genes located in the Epidermal Differentiation Complex (EDC), a gene cluster that is ...

This one-ton turtle once ruled South America’s rivers — until a changing planet proved too much for even the largest ...

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Researchers in China have unearthed fossils of the most primitive turtle to date, a creature with teeth, a fully formed belly shell and a back shell that appeared to be just ...