Researchers from the University of Texas (UT), Austin has delved into a fossil of dinosaur-era turtle with an unusual pig-like snout. The study is said to add up to the understanding of how turtles evolved through time.
The extinct creature was discovered in Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by a group of volunteers from the Natural History Museum of Utah. Joshua Lively, a doctoral student at UT, was the one who studied the fossil when he was still doing his thesis for his master's.
The species, which has a scientific name of Arvinachelys goldeni, is categorized under baenids. The animal was about two feet long from its head to tail and its shell was made suitable for living in a riverine surroundings. During the Cretaceous period 76 million years ago, when the creature was still alive, the climate of southern Utah was hot and wet. The area was also said to be filled with bayous, lowland flood areas and rivers.
The turtle is truly unique as it has a broad nose with two bony openings, unlike all other turtles, which only have one nasal orifice from the outside that is separated by mere flesh.
"Anatomically, it's one of the most bizarre turtles that ever lived," said Lively. He added that more vitally, the discovery contributes to the increasing concepts about the motions of the ecosystem during that time across western North America.
The fossil exudes one of the most undiminished skeletons of a turtle that lived during the dinosaur era. Not only are the shell and skull found, it also has an almost integrated forelimb, partial hindlimb and bones from the neck to its tail. Majority of turtle fossils are frequently composed of only a detached skull or shell.
During the time of the pig-snouted turtles, the western part of North America was then pertained to as a large continent called Laramidia. The island was partitioned from the eastern region through a sea that runs from the Arctic to the Gulf of Mexico.
Dinosaurs that lived in the southern region of Laramidia appeared to have varied in remoteness from its relatives in the northern part. The obvious seclusion of the pig-snouted turtles and other turtle species followed the same model. At present, the reason why isolation transpired between creatures from the northern and southern regions remains unknown.
At that time, the planet was so hot and variation in temperatures in relation to the distance from the equator and the poles were not as apparent as it is at present.
Rising sea levels and continuous climate alterations may have hampered species distribution during the Cretaceous. Studies on how ancient animals adapted to climate modifications will help experts comprehend how present-day animals and ecosystems may react to current and future climate change.
The study was published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology on Wednesday, Oct. 21.
