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Did marine turtles evolve from terrestrial turtles?

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The Cryptodira is the larger of the two groups and includes all the marine turtles, the terrestrial tortoises, and many of the freshwater turtles. The Pleurodira are sometimes known as the side-necked turtles, a reference to the way they retract their heads into their shells. This smaller group consists primarily of various freshwater turtles. read more

Turtles, both marine and terrestrial have a great history and evolutionary adaptation modified by the climatic and geographical changes that the planet has experienced. Probably the toughest tests that sea turtles had to pass was the mass extinction of the Cretaceous-Paleogene about 66 million years ago that ended the life of the dinosaurs and three-quarters of the animal and plant life on Earth. read more

Until recently, fossil evidence linking the land-dwelling Eunotosaurus and the giant, marine turtles of the late Cretaceous period was sorely lacking. That all changed in 2008 with two major discoveries: first up was the late Jurassic, western European Eileanchelys, touted by researchers as the earliest marine turtle yet identified. read more

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