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...

Université de Fribourg

A taxonomic reassessment of Piramys auffenbergi, a neglected turtle from the late Miocene of Piram Island, Gujarat, India

Ferreira, Gabriel S. ; Bandyopadhyay, Saswati ; Joyce, Walter G.

In: PeerJ, 2018, vol. 6, p. e5938

Piramys auffenbergi was described as an emydine turtle based on a well-preserved skull retrieved from late Miocene deposits exposed on Piram Island, India. The description and figures provided in the original publication are vague and do not support assignment to Emydinae. This taxon has mostly been ignored by subsequent authors.Material and Methods: We reexamine the holotype specimen,...