Université de Fribourg

Feeding biomechanics suggests progressive correlation of skull architecture and neck evolution in turtles

Ferreira, Gabriel S. ; Lautenschlager, Stephan ; Evers, Serjoscha W. ; Pfaff, Cathrin ; Kriwet, Jürgen ; Raselli, Irena ; Werneburg, Ingmar

In: Scientific Reports, 2020, vol. 10, p. 5505

The origin of turtles is one of the most long-lasting debates in evolutionary research. During their evolution, a series of modifications changed their relatively kinetic and anapsid skull into an elongated akinetic structure with a unique pulley system redirecting jaw adductor musculature. These modifications were thought to be strongly correlated to functional adaptations, especially to bite...