Phylogeny, biogeography and diversification patterns of side-necked turtles (Testudines: Pleurodira)

Pleurodires or side-necked turtles are today restricted to freshwater environments of South America, Africa– Madagascar and Australia, but in the past they were distributed much more broadly, being found also on Eurasia, India and North America, and marine environments. Two hypotheses were proposed to explain this distribution; in the first, vicariance would have shaped the current geographical distribution and, in the second, extinctions constrained a previously widespread distribution. Here, we aim to reconstruct pleurodiran biogeographic history and diversification patterns based on a new phylogenetic hypothesis recovered from the analysis of the largest morphological dataset yet compiled for the lineage, testing which biogeographical process prevailed during its evolutionary history. The resulting topology generally agrees with previous hypotheses of the group and shows that most diversification shifts were related to the exploration of new niches, e.g. littoral or marine radiations. In addition, as other turtles, pleurodires do not seem to have been much affected by either the Cretaceous– Palaeogene or the Eocene–Oligocene mass extinctions. The biogeographic analyses highlight the predominance of both anagenetic and cladogenetic dispersal events and support the importance of transoceanic dispersals as a more common driver of area changes than previously thought, agreeing with previous studies with other non-turtle lineages.Fil: Ferreira, Gabriel S.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; Brasil. Senckenberg Centre For Human Evolution And Palaeoenvironment; Alemania. Universität Tübingen; AlemaniaFil: Bronzati Filho, Mario. Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie; AlemaniaFil: Langer, Max C.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Sterli, Juliana. Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Climate-mediated diversification of turtles in the Cretaceous

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A toothed turtle from the Late Jurassic of China and the global biogeographic history of turtles

Turtles (Testudinata) are a successful lineage of vertebrates with about 350 extant species that inhabit all major oceans and landmasses with tropical to temperate climates. The rich fossil record of turtles documents the adaptation of various sub- lineages to a broad range of habitat preferences, but a synthetic biogeographic model is still lacking for the group.Results: We herein describe a new species of fossil turtle from the Late Jurassic of Xinjiang, China, Sichuanchelys palatodentata sp. nov., that is highly unusual by plesiomorphically exhibiting palatal teeth. Phylogenetic analysis places the Late Jurassic Sichuanchelys palatodentata in a clade with the Late Cretaceous Mongolochelys efremovi outside crown group Testudines thereby establishing the prolonged presence of a previously unrecognized clade of turtles in Asia, herein named Sichuanchelyidae. In contrast to previous hypotheses, M. efremovi and Kallokibotion bajazidi are not found within Meiolaniformes, a clade that is here reinterpreted as being restricted to Gondwana.Conclusions: A revision of the global distribution of fossil and recent turtle reveals that the three primary lineages of derived, aquatic turtles, including the crown, Paracryptodira, Pan-Pleurodira, and Pan- Cryptodira can be traced back to the Middle Jurassic of Euramerica, Gondwana, and Asia, respectively, which resulted from the primary break up of Pangaea at that time. The two primary lineages of Pleurodira, Pan-Pelomedusoides and Pan-Chelidae, can similarly be traced back to the Cretaceous of northern and southern Gondwana, respectively, which were separated from one another by a large desert zone during that time. The primary divergence of crown turtles was therefore driven by vicariance to the primary freshwater aquatic habitat of these lineages. The temporally persistent lineages of basal turtles, Helochelydridae, Meiolaniformes, Sichuanchelyidae, can similarly be traced back to the Late Mesozoic of Euramerica, southern Gondwana, and Asia. Given the ambiguous phylogenetic relationships of these three lineages, it is unclear if their diversification was driven by vicariance as well, or if they display a vicariance-like pattern. The clean, primary signal apparent among early turtles is secondarily obliterated throughout the Late Cretaceous to Recent by extensive dispersal of continental turtles and by multiple invasions of marine habitats

Phylogenetic placement of Adalatherium hui (Mammalia, Gondwanatheria) from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar : implications for allotherian relationships

The phylogenetic position of Gondwanatheria within Mammaliaformes has historically been controversial. The well-preserved skeleton of Adalatherium hui from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar offers a unique opportunity to address this issue, based on morphological data from the whole skeleton. Gondwanatheria were, until recently, known only from fragmentary dental and mandibular material, as well as a single cranium. The holotype of A. hui provides the first postcranial skeleton for gondwanatherians and substantially increases the amount of character data available to score. We sampled 530 characters and 84 cynodonts (including 34 taxa historically affiliated with Allotheria) to test the phylogenetic relationships of Gondwanatheria and Allotheria using parsimony, undated Bayesian, and tip-dated Bayesian methods. We tested three lower dental formulae for Adalatherium, because its postcanines are distinctly different from those of other mammaliaforms and cannot readily be homologized with any known dental pattern. In all analyses, Adalatherium is recovered within Gondwanatheria, most frequently outside of Sudamericidae or Ferugliotheriidae, which is congruent with establishment of the family Adalatheriidae. The different dental coding schemes do not greatly impact the position of Adalatherium, although there are differences in character optimization. In all analyses, Gondwanatheria are placed within Allotheria, either as sister to Multituberculata, nested within Multituberculata, or as sister to Cifelliodon (and Euharamiyida), or in a polytomy with other allotherians. The composition of Allotheria varies in our analyses. The haramiyidans Haramiyavia and Thomasia are placed outside of Allotheria in the parsimony and tip-dated Bayesian analyses, but in a polytomy with other allotherians in the undated Bayesian analyses

The cranial anatomy of the Early Jurassic turtle Kayentachelys aprix

The fossil turtle Kayentachelys aprix is known from Early Jurassic sediments of the Kayenta Formation, Arizona, USA. The detailed description of this taxon’s cranium offered in this paper demonstrates that this turtle presents a mixture of primitive and derived character states. Among others, the presence of an interpterygoid vacuity, a basipterygoid process, a prootic that is exposed in ventral view, and a foramen posterius canalis carotici interni that is formed entirely by the basisphenoid are generally considered primitive for turtles. On the other hand, the presence of an undivided apertura narium, a well developed cavum tympani, an incipient cavum postoticum, and an unpaired vomer are considered to be derived. Kayentachelys aprix has previously been hypothesized to be the oldest stem cryptodiran turtle because of the presence of a flat, vertical plate on the processus pterygoideus externus, and the presence of a processus trochlearis oticum. However, the presence of these characters cannot be confirmed in the available specimens. Other putative stemcryptodiran characters, such as the prefrontal−vomer contact and the presence of an epipterygoid, are herein corroborated as being symplesiomorphies, because they generally appear to be present in basal turtles

The parabasisphenoid complex in Mesozoic turtles and the evolution of the testudinate basicranium

International audienceDuring the early development of turtles and other amniotes, the parabasisphenoid, or basisphenoid s.l., is formed by at least two centers of ossification: the endochondral basisphenoid s.s. and the dermal parasphenoid. This fusion is usually so dramatic that the two elements cannot be distinguished from each other in the adult stage. Here, we describe the basicranium of two species of Mesozoic turtles from Europe, Plesiochelys etalloni and Pleurosternon bullockii, partly using micro-CT (computer tomography) scans, and show that in both taxa para-and basisphenoid remain distinguishable throughout life. We also identify the extent that each of the two elements has contributed to the formation of the braincase floor. Because the structure of the parabasisphenoid determines the course of the internal carotid artery into the skull, our findings allow us to discuss the early evolution of the carotid pattern and the turtle basicranium in new detail. By surveying the main patterns of carotid circulation in extinct and extant turtles, we bring new evidence to the idea that it was largely the ossification of the parasphenoid that, along with the closure of the interpterygoid vacuity and the posterior extension of the pterygoids, shaped the internal carotid patterns as seen in modern turtles

FIGURE 4 in Dating the origin and diversiFIcation of Pan-Chelidae (Testudines, Pleurodira) under multiple molecular clock approaches

FIGURE 4 Comparison of dates produced by the three analyses of this study and four previous molecular clock studies. Abbreviations: Dea (2011), Dornburg et al. (2011); Jea (2013), Joyce et al. (2013); Pea (2017), Pereira et al. (2017); TS-M TD, This study morphological tip-dating; TS- ND, This study node-dating; TS-TE TD, This study total-evidence tip- dating; R&DF (2016), Rodrigues & Diniz-Filho (2016). Node numbers as in table 2.Published as part of Alfredo Holley, J., Sterli, Juliana & Basso, Néstor G., 2020, Dating the origin and diversiFIcation of Pan-Chelidae (Testudines, Pleurodira) under multiple molecular clock approaches, pp. 146-174 in Contributions to Zoology 89 (2) on page 157, DOI: 10.1163/18759866-20191419, http://zenodo.org/record/836815

FIGURE 3 in Dating the origin and diversiFIcation of Pan-Chelidae (Testudines, Pleurodira) under multiple molecular clock approaches

FIGURE 3 Comparison of the three dating analyses performed in this study (simplified trees). Node number as in table 2. Abbreviations of analyses as in table 1. Abbreviations of geological events as in fig. 2. Abbrevia- tions of genera as in figs. 1 and 2. * constrained nodes based on the MP topologies; ↑, origin of total groups Pan-Chelidae and Pan- Pelomedusioides.Published as part of Alfredo Holley, J., Sterli, Juliana & Basso, Néstor G., 2020, Dating the origin and diversiFIcation of Pan-Chelidae (Testudines, Pleurodira) under multiple molecular clock approaches, pp. 146-174 in Contributions to Zoology 89 (2) on page 154, DOI: 10.1163/18759866-20191419, http://zenodo.org/record/836815

FIGURE 2 in Dating the origin and diversiFIcation of Pan-Chelidae (Testudines, Pleurodira) under multiple molecular clock approaches

FIGURE 2 Opening of Tasman Sea; Pal., Paleocene; P, Pliocene; Pe, Pelomedusa; Pel, Pelusios; Pelt, Peltocephalus; (cont.) Ph, Phrynops; Pl, Platemys; Ple, Pleurodira; Po, Podocnemis; Ps, Pseudemydura; Q, Quaternary; R, Rheodytes; Rh, Rhinemys. *, constrained nodes based on the TE MP topology; †, extinct taxa; ↑, origin of total groups Pan-Chelidae and Pan-Pelomedusioides. Downloaded from Brill.com10/07/2022 07:36:56PM via free accessPublished as part of Alfredo Holley, J., Sterli, Juliana & Basso, Néstor G., 2020, Dating the origin and diversiFIcation of Pan-Chelidae (Testudines, Pleurodira) under multiple molecular clock approaches, pp. 146-174 in Contributions to Zoology 89 (2) on page 154, DOI: 10.1163/18759866-20191419, http://zenodo.org/record/836815