Fossil turtle from Colombia round like a car tire
Fossil turtle from Colombia round like a car tire
Posted July 12, 2012
Paleontologist Carlos Jaramillos group at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and colleagues at North Carolina State University and the Florida Museum of Natural History discovered a new species of fossil turtle that lived 60 million years ago in what is now northwestern South America. The teams findings were published in the Journal of Paleontology.
The new turtle species is named Puentemys mushaisaensis because it was found in La Puente pit in Cerrejón Coal Mine, a place made famous for the discoveries, not only of the extinct Titanoboa, the worlds biggest snake, but also of Carbonemys, a freshwater turtle as big as a smart car.
Cerrejons fossil reptiles all seem to be extremely large. With its total length of 5 feet, Puentemys adds to growing evidence that following the extinction of the dinosaurs, tropical reptiles were much bigger than they are now. Fossils from Cerrejon offer an excellent opportunity to understand the origins of tropical biodiversity in the last 60 million years of Earths history.
The most peculiar feature of this new turtle is its extremely circular shell, about the size and shape of a big car tire. Edwin Cadena, post-doctoral fellow at North Carolina State University and lead author of the paper, said that the turtles round shape could have discouraged predators, including Titanoboa, and aided in regulating its body temperature.
More:
http://scienceblog.com/55529/fossil-turtle-from-colombia-round-like-a-car-tire/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+scienceblogrssfeed+%28ScienceBlog.com%29