Evolution Of Turtle Essay

797 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Evolution of turtles essays

Evolution of Turtles and Their Body Plan Turtles are one of the most unique animals that roam the Earth today. They have the most unique body plans any animal has ever had. Being one of the oldest reptiles, from the order Testudines, they have gone through millions of years of adaption and evolution. Their evolution have left biologist puzzled and has demanded the attention of zoologist to study and discover the adaptation of these fascinating creatures. With the recent discoveries of Eunotosaurus africanus and Pappochelys Rosinae, biologist can finally piece together the missing links to help finally solve how turtles became the wqay they are today. The discovery of their evolution and the altercation of the Turtle and their Bauplan is astounding. …show more content…

E. Africanus was roaming the earth between 265.8 and 251 million years ago in the late-Permian era in modern-day South Africa. Hailing from the genus Eunotosaurus, the E. Africanus, so far, is the earliest and the most similar to (at the time) the modern day turtle. Eunotosaurus was given its named in 1892, but it was not proposed to be an ancestor of Chelonia, (the turtle order), until 1914. English zoologist D. M. S. Watson claimed that Eunotosaurus was “transitional between Cotylosaurs and Chelonia”. Watson also compared it to "Archichelone", a name he hypothesized for a debatable chelonian ancestor. He noted that “its ribs appeared to be between the ribs of a turtles’ and ribs of other tetrapods”. Watson's "Archichelone" had a pelvic girdle that was placed under the shell, and was also pushed back on the vertebral column. However, fossil evidence showed that the pelvis is in the normal position it would be in other tetrapods and is, in fact, not placed within the ribs, but over them, just like modern turtles. There have been many other debates about whether or not Eunotosaurus is even remotely closely related to modern day turtles and all the evidence of its body plan have proven doubters

Show More
Related

  • Grapes Of Wrath Turtle Analysis

    581 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the Grapes of Wrath, a novel by John Steinbeck, there are many examples of symbolism. One of the most prominent symbols found in this book is the turtle seen in chapter three. This turtle is symbolic of three things: the Joads and their journey west, Tom Joad himself, and the promise of new life. First, here’s a little background information on the turtle. This land turtle was somewhere to go. Where than is, no one knows, except perhaps John Steinbeck. To get there the turtle decides to take the perilous journey down a dusty dirt road that stretches along the quiet countryside. What could happen? A lot more than one might think. In fact, the turtle faces quite a few challenged ranging from pesky insects, to ledges, to even cars. But, the thing that makes this turtle special is that he never gives up (Pages

    Read More

  • Ceratopsians and Pachycephalosaurs

    2049 Words  | 5 Pages

    Ceratopsians and Pachycephalosaurs are closely related in their characteristics. Ceratopsians processed a saddle-shaped boney frill that extended from the skull to the neck and typically had horns over the nose and eyes. The most popular was the triceratops, which could reach over 26 feet and weigh in excess of twelve metric tons. Their frills served as two major functions. It protected the vulnerable neck from being harmed. The second major function that the frill provided was due to the fact that the frill contained a network of blood vessels on its underside, which were used as a means to get rid of excess heat. The Pachycephalosaurs were considered to be bipedal. They were also found to have thick skulls, flattened bodies, and tail that were covered in an array of body rods. Pachycephalosaurs were thought to have been more than fifteen feet long and processed a skull that was surrounded by a rounded dome of solid bone. It was thought that they used their heads in combat or mating contests, but that was disproved fairly recently, which I will discuss later in the paper. Both Ceratopsians and Pachycephalosaurs were “bird-hipped” and both of these suborders contained a backwards pubic bone. Both were Marginocephilia, or “fringed heads”, which is one of three clads under the Orinthiscia order. They were also herbivore dinosaurs that inherited their fringe at the back of the skull from earlier ancestors.(2) Their classi...

    Read More

  • Physiological Adaptations of the Plesiosaur for ?Holding its Breath?

    1242 Words  | 3 Pages

    One hundred and fifty million years ago, large aquatic species of reptile such as the Plesiosaur dominated the ocean, and were pre-eminent predators of the sea. The branch of now extinct Plesiosaurs, or ‘near lizards’, evolved into variant closely related species specialised to take different niches in the food chain. Such species of Plesiosaur include the phenotypically similar Plesiosauroid and Pliosauroid. The physiological adaptations of the long necked variant, the Plesiosauroid, as it relates to deep sea diving, will be addressed in depth.

    Read More

  • Loggerhead Turtles Essay

    912 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the animal kingdom, adaptations take place continuously and even the smallest of changes can leave a significant impact. Examples can be seen within any plant or animal. One example would include sea turtles, specifically, the Loggerhead Turtles. These turtles are native to the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans as well as the Mediterranean Sea (Deurmit L 2007). They thrive in either temperate or tropical climates and can live in a myriad of biomes (Deurmit L 2007). These biomes include the pelagic, reef, coastal, and brackish water (Deurmit L 2007). Loggerhead turtles are omnivores and can eat anything from insects to aquatic crustaceans, to macro algae (Deurmit L 2007). According to Deurmit (2007) Caretta caretta is classified into Animalia Kingdom, Chordata Phylum, Vertebrata Subphylum, Reptilian Class, Testudines’ Order,

    Read More

  • The Earth On Turtle's Back Analysis

    935 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nature has been an important role in numerous stories in and past and present. The early myths and creation stories had the natural world as characters or playing an important part of the plot of the story. Strong examples of how nature has been an important part of stories are stories written for children and origin myth passed down through the generations. Just like many early creation stories of western civilizations nature plays a huge part in the origin myths of the Native Americans. Native Americans showed a strong connection to nature when they used parts of nature in their origin myths, examples can be found in "The Earth on Turtle's Back," when the animals helped save the sky chief’s wife, "When Grizzlies Walked Upright," how the first

    Read More

  • The Texas Horned Lizard

    967 Words  | 2 Pages

    Pianka, E. and Hodges, W. 1995. Horned Lizards. University of Texas. Web. Accessed at http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~varanus/phryno.html

    Read More

  • Microraptor Gui: The Dinosaur with Four Wings

    1527 Words  | 4 Pages

    Before any sort of discussion on the debate of what M. gui implies, however, the details of this odd reptile’s discovered fossils should be given. Through past research and findings, the leading theory on the origin of birds traces them back to dinosaurs, more specifically a type of bipedal dinosaur called theropods. Within this group of mostly carnivorous dinosaurs are the dromaeosaurids, and they specifically are believed to be the closest dinosaur ancestors of birds.

    Read More

  • Are Animals Worth It?

    2032 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...emale leatherback turtle and her habits in order to fully understand this critically endangered marine animal.

    Read More

  • Loggerheads Essay

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    Introduction Caretta caretta, otherwise known as the Loggerhead Sea Turtle, is an oceanic turtle that exist throughout the globe. They are circumtropical species (LeBlanc et al. 2014) meaning they are distributed throughout temperate and tropical ocean regions, but most abundant species are found in the United States coastal range. Loggerheads largest nesting aggregations in the Atlantic are found along the southeastern United States coastal range where about 80% of all nesting occurs and 90% of all hatchlings are produced (Abecassis et al. 2013).

    Read More

  • turtles

    1068 Words  | 3 Pages

    A turtle’s shell makes them special and unique animals. The shell of a turtle protects them from harm. Many people believe that the shell has helped turtles survive for million of years. The top part of the shell is called the carapase. The bottom part is called plastron. The shell has sixty bones that are all together. Because turtles have so many bones on the shell, it is very important to feed them a healthy diet and give them a lot of calcium and protein. This will make them strong and healthy. Some turtles can eat w...

    Read More

  • The Permaian Period: The Mass Extinction Of Animals

    383 Words  | 1 Pages

    During the Permian, reptiles populated the land. At this time, most of the continents were at high, rather cold latitudes. The 'mammal-like' reptiles (pelycosaurs) included such well known forms as the 'sail backs' Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus (up to 3m long) and were the most common tetrapod in the Early Permian fauna. Other groups living at this time include the therapsids, which were a diverse group including Moschops (up to 5m long) and Dicynodon. It is important to realize that the lineage of animals that eventually led to the dinosaurs (known as the diapsids) were rare in the Carboniferous and Permian - they showed no sign of their later rise to dominance. They included forms such as Protorosaurus, and the remarkable Coeleurosauravus that was able to glide from tree to tree using skin covered ribs in a similar way to the modern 'flying lizard' (Draco).

    Read More

  • Hummberto Find His Turtle Analysis

    440 Words  | 1 Pages

    Once there was a kid named Noah and he loved t-rexes. His friend, Humberto went to the graveyard to find his turtle. Noah likes turtles, but he said he’ll go in a few minutes. Noah was a very bad kid, he would steal, commit crimes and worst of all, read a book. Humberto would not do that, but he does not care if Noah does that. In their small town, there is a lot of nice people besides Noah. There is this very small girl called Daisy and she goes to their house all the time. She says “she loves trees” and they live in a very big forest.

    Read More

  • Reptiles

    1082 Words  | 3 Pages

    Reptiles are vertebrate, or backboned animals constituting the class Reptilia and are characterized by a combination of features, none of which alone could separate all reptiles from all other animals.The characteristics of reptiles are numerous, therefore can not be explained in great detail in this report. In no special order, the characteristics of reptiles are: cold-bloodedness; the presence of lungs; direct development, without larval forms as in amphibians; a dry skin with scales but not feathers or hair; an amniote egg; internal fertilization; a three or four-chambered heart; two aortic arches (blood vessels) carrying blood from the heart to the body, unlike mammals and birds that only have one; a metanephric kidney; twelve pairs of cranial nerves; and skeletal features such as limbs with usually five clawed fingers or toes, at least two spinal bones associated with the pelvis, a single ball-and-socket connection at the head-neck joint instead of two, as in advanced amphibians and mammals, and an incomplete or complete partition along the roof of the mouth, separating the food and air passageways so that breathing can continue while food is being chewed. These and other traditional defining characteristics of reptiles have been subjected to considerable modification in recent times. The extinct flying reptiles, called pterosaurs or pterodactyls, are now thought to have been warm-blooded and covered with hair. Also, the dinosaurs are also now considered by many authorities to have been warm-blooded. The earliest known bird, archaeopteryx, is now regarded by many to have been a small dinosaur, despite its covering of feathers The extinct ancestors of the mammals, the therapsids, or mammallike reptiles, are also believed to have been warm-blooded and haired.

    Read More

  • Porifera Essay

    1579 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the various phyla discussed evolutionary advancements are relevant. Starting from the basic, simplistic life forms of a sponge, up to the intelligence of an octopus and advance organ systems of Annelida the changes have only improved. Some species changed and evolved because as populations grow, they spread out farther and different conditions begin to affect their life. Why some species haven’t changed is because their body plan and system works for the environment they inhabit. Evolution has helped animals spread out all over the world and adapt to various conditions, seen in the habitats Aschelminthes can prosper in.

    Read More

  • Phylogenies

    825 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...gly supported and implicated by this experiment. While Bayesian inference puts turtles in a wide range, parsimony puts turtles more specifically near pareiasauromorphs. Also, in molecular scaffolding, a turtle-archosaur clade in the diapsid matrices is very evident, but highly unstable for Eunotosaurus. Eunotosaurus, though, remains with parareptiles in a majority of the scaffolding. This states that turtles could very well be considered parareptiles, while being sister groups to archosaurs. Further evidence should be done on other close relatives to these taxa, including the research of synamorphies to help support the evidence. The more experiments that are applied to studying the different ancestors and possible sisters of turtles, and even Eunotosaurus, could be what it takes to properly place turtles in the specific phylogeny and taxa that they belong to.

    Read More

More about Evolution Of Turtle Essay

Open Document