Fossil turtle didn't have a shell yet, but had the first toothless turtle beak
Wednesday, August 22, 2018 - 12:00
in Biology & Nature
There are a couple of key features that make a turtle a turtle: its shell, for one, but also its toothless beak. A newly-discovered fossil turtle that lived 228 million years ago is shedding light on how modern turtles developed these traits. It had a beak, but while its body was Frisbee-shaped, its wide ribs hadn't grown to form a shell like we see in turtles today.