An unbelievably well - preserved fossil of an ancient Jurassic seaturtlehas been bring out in Germany , the first to have a complete skull , shell , and all four limb . The marine turtle had a monolithic nous and would have swum through the shallows of a tropical sea that once cover Europe 150 million twelvemonth ago .
Across the cosmos , there are some super importantfossil sitesthat have provided scientists with an raiment of specimen that help determine all sort of info about the way ancient creatures once roamed across the res publica and ocean of ancient Earth . The Torleite Formation near Painten in southeast Germany is such a position ; an combat-ready quarry , it ’s also home to one C of fogey Jurassic marine animate being such as turtles , crocodilians , fish , and even giant marine reptiles like ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurus .
It was here in 2014 scientists uncovered a new specimen of the polo-neck speciesSolnhofia parsonsi , go steady back around 150 million years . This field is known as the Franconian Alb and carry large amounts of nautical aqueous rocks from the Lower and UpperJurassic . The specific orbit in which the polo-neck specimen was found had only begun to be investigated in the last 20 years and has provided a wealth of specimens in different taxonomic groups . The edition in specimens led scientists to suggest that this area would have been once connected to the open sea .
The fossil reveals more about the ecology of this ancient turtle species.Image Credit: Peter Nickolaus,CC-BY 4.0
The new specimen is exceptionally well preserved with a pure skull and skeleton seeable . " liken to the sizing of the carapace , the skull is very large , reaching approximately 40 % of the shield ( cuticle ) length , " the authors publish in the study .
However , it can only be look at from the top of the shell down . This is the first fossil with a complete skull , shell , and nearly complete limb , and only the 2nd of this coinage found with the chief and rear limbs in their instinctive positions , which help the squad understand more about the turtleneck ' conduct .
The team think that the way the turtleneck ’s paddles differed from the stiff flipper of mystifying - ocean turtle propose that it did not have a fully pelagic ( open ocean ) lifestyle and so did not pass large amount of time on the exposed ocean . Instead , they reason that the boat paddle organisation along with a difference in tail end distance suggests that this turtle ’s environmental science was more suited to being a shallow - water coastal marine species .
The study is published inPLOS ONE .
