Photo reinterpration
by Iván
Gromicho
|
A
discovery of sea turtle remains from Jaén, Baetic Cordillera adds knowledge on the oldest sea turtles
that once existed on Earth millions of years ago. The supposed new species, Hispaniachelys prebetica, turned out to be a
misnomer (i.e. deemed invalid) upon reinterpretation of the sole specimen from Jaén. Since evidence is meager, the
sea turtle fossil is classified as an ‘inderterminate’ species of
Plesiochelyidae, a diverse group of reptiles from the European Jurassic. This
means that the specimen possibly fits in one of the previously defined species
of the group [1,2].
As
experts point out, the Plesiochelyids from 160 million years ago certainly do
not resemble sea turtles today. Growing evidence obtained from Spain supports this claim. Unlike that of the agile, migratory, adventurous sea turtles we see
today, the first European sea turtles’ anatomy –unfortunately - restricted them
to the coastlines. This constraint and the changing sea levels that occurred
145 million years ago obliterated them [1,2]. That’s natural selection, after
all.
Currrently,
scientists are working to unravel the diversity in Plesiochelyids.
To
ponder more on Plesiochelyidea, refer to the link http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.4202/app.2012.0115.
SeaLifeBase also has information for the 7
living species of sea turtles. Happy
learning everyone!
____________________
[1]
Plataforma SINC (2015, March 23). First European sea turtles became extinct due
to changing sea levels. ScienceDaily. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150318074232.htm
[2]
Pérez-García, A. (2014). Reinterpretation of the Spanish Late Jurassic “Hispaniachelys
prebetica” as an indeterminate Plesiochelyid turtle. Acta Paleontologica
Polonica 59(4):879-885.
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