The turtle's skeletal remains, as shown from below, revealed its belly was covered with a shell called a plastron.
Posted on 11/26/2008 2:39:08 PM PST by JoeProBono
A half-shell turtle species that swam in China's coastal waters 220 million years ago is the oldest turtle known to date, a new analysis of fossils reveals.
The turtle had a belly shell, but its back was basically bare of armor.
Last week, a team of scientists had reported the discovery of the oldest aquatic turtle, dating back 164 million years. That was a short-lived title. The new half-shell aquatic turtle, studied by Chun Li of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and his colleagues and dubbed Odontochelys semistestacea, swam around even longer ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
The turtle's skeletal remains, as shown from below, revealed its belly was covered with a shell called a plastron.
If it had a shelled belly and a bare back, exactly what made it a turtle?
Perhaps the have mis-identified an unknown species?
Yeah and what about the wheels?
“...dubbed Odontochelys semistestacea...”
When one dubs something, isn’t it to make it easier to remember? Odontochelys semistestacea doesn’t exactly roll off the toungue. Why don’t we just dub it “Chuck?”
Does one conclude it only had a bottom shell...or is the top[ shell missing. AND.....who cares???
Thanks for the chuckle...
Hmmmm...let me chew on this a while
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