Odontochelys
Name:
Odontochelys
(Toothed turtle).
Phonetic: Oh-don-toe-kell-iss.
Named By: Li Chun, Xiao-Chun Wu, Olivier
Rieppel, Li-Ting Wang & Li-Jun Zhao - 2008.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Anapsida,
Testudines, Proganochelydia, Odontochelyidae.
Species: O. semitestacea (type).
Diet: Uncertain but possibly small invertebrates or
algae on rocks.
Size: Approximately forty centimetres long.
Known locations: China, Guizhou Province -
Falang Formation.
Time period: Carnian of the Triassic.
Fossil representation: Almost complete and
articulated specimen.
Odontochelys
translates to English as ‘toothed turtle with a half-shell’, and
this is in reference to the fact that only the plastron (bottom
half) of the shell is developed. How the shell formed though is a
matter of debate amongst palaeontologists as some consider Odontochelys
to be a transitory form in the evolution of turtles while others think
that the plastron formed as a result of shell reversal, something
that can be seen in other turtle genera. Whichever theory is
correct, Odontochelys did not have a hard
carapace (upper shell)
that protected its back. Odontochelys did
however have broad ribs
which can be seen in the developing embryos of modern turtles.
Similar development can also be seen in some other early reptiles such
as Eunotosaurus
from the Permian.
The
presence of large numbers of ammonites and conodonts in the deposits
the Odontochelys holotype specimen was found in is
seen to confirm that
Odontochelys was a primarily if not fully aquatic
animal. Exactly
what Odontochelys ate is a good question as the
teeth are not
especially adapted to just one kind of diet, and would have been
suitable for either catching small aquatic animals or possibly rasping
algae off rocks like a marine iguana.
Further reading
- An ancestral turtle from the Late Triassic of southwestern China. -
Nature 456:497-501. - C. Li, X. C. Wu, O. Rieppel, L. T. Wang &
L. J. Zhao - 2008.
- Decompression syndrome and diving behavior in Odontochelys, the first
turtle. - Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 60 (1): 163–167. - Bruce M.
Rothschild & Virginia Naples - 2015.
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