Shell Shock: Triassic Reptile Was 'Grandfather' of All Turtles

It looked like an odd lizard with a bulky body and only the skeletal precursor of a shell, but scientists say 240 million-year-old fossils unearthed in a quarry in southern Germany represent the grandfather of all turtles. The scientists on Wednesday announced the discovery of the oldest-known turtle, a 20-centimeter (8-inch) Triassic Period reptile combining traits of its lizard-like ancestors with a set of emerging turtle-like features. They named it Pappochelys, meaning...

© La Voix de l'Amérique - mercredi 24 juin 2015