A marine turtle with a huge head dove across a shallow tropical sea spanning what is now Europe some 150 million years ago.
Solnhofia parsonsi, a kind of Jurassic sea turtle, has just a few complete fossils known to science. For the first time, the shape and structure of the turtle’s extremities have been revealed by a unique fossil that has all of its limbs and nearly all of its foot bones intact.
All current marine turtle species have long, stiff flippers that let them swim through the ocean’s depths. But compared to the size of its body, the newly discovered fossil’s limbs were stumpier than those of contemporary sea turtles. These limbs are shorter, suggesting that S.
According to research published on July 26 in the journal PLOS One, Parsonsi swam in coastal waters as opposed to the open ocean.
The newest specimen “is the best preserved individual of this species,” according to lead research author Felix Augustin, a doctoral student in the department of geosciences at the University of Tübingen in Germany. The first fossilized remains of this sea turtle were discovered in the 1970s.
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Ancient Treasures Revealed
“It is the first that preserves the entire skull, entire shell, and also all four complete limbs.” during his existence. According to Augustin, Parsonsi was around 12 inches (30 centimeters) long from snout to tail and had a “relatively large” head with a 4 inch (10 centimeter) long skull.
According to study co author Dr. Márton Rabi, a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Tübingen’s department of geosciences, such a large skull may have been useful for crushing through the hard shells of bottom-dwelling crustaceans and mollusks, but such conclusions are “highly speculative at this point” as paleontologists have yet to find concrete proof of the extinct turtle’s diet.
The fossil was discovered in 2014 in a limestone quarry in southeast Germany, which is home to a wealth of other fossils dating from the late Jurassic Period (199.6 million to 145.5 million years ago).
According to the study, many turtles, fish, crocodilians, and even large marine reptiles like plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs are preserved there.
Fossil excavations there didn’t start until roughly 20 years ago, despite the location being a quarry that has been extensively mined since the 1950s.
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Source: CNN
