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...
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In: Organisms Diversity & Evolution, 2013, vol. 13, no. 2, p. 225-254
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In: Systematic Biology, 2014, p. syu072
The unique ability of modern turtles to retract their head and neck into the shell through a side-necked (pleurodiran) or hidden-necked (cryptodiran) motion is thought to have evolved independently in crown turtles. The anatomical changes that led to the vertebral shapes of modern turtles, however, are still poorly understood. Here we present comprehensive geometric morphometric analyses that...
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In: Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution, 2014, p. -
Turtles have the unparalleled ability to retract their heads and necks within their shell but little is known about the evolution of this trait. Extensive analysis of neck mobility in turtles using radiographs, CT scans, and morphometry reveals that basal turtles possessed less mobility in the neck relative to their extant relatives, although the anatomical prerequisites for modern mobility were...
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In: Journal of Anatomy, 2013, vol. 223, no. 5, p. 421–441
The hooked element in the pes of turtles was historically identified by most palaeontologists and embryologists as a modified fifth metatarsal, and often used as evidence to unite turtles with other reptiles with a hooked element. Some recent embryological studies, however, revealed that this element might represent an enlarged fifth distal tarsal. We herein provide extensive new myological and...
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In: BMC evolutionary biology, 2009, vol. 9, no. 82, p. 1-9
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