A New Stem Turtle From The Middle Jurassic Of Scotland: New Insights On The Evolution And Palaeoecology Of Basal Turtles

The Isle of Skye, Scotland, has yielded the remains of a new species of primitive turtle, Eileanchelys waldmani. Eileanchelys dates from the Middle Jurassic period (164 million years old) and is represented by multiple skulls and shells: it is the most complete turtle known from this time interval. Its anatomy bridges a major morphological gap that existed between the earliest turtles and modern groups, offering important new information on the evolution of the turtle skull.

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Filed under: Biology on November 21st, 2008