New species of turtle nicknamed ‘Old Stinky’ found at Gray Fossil Site

The Gray Fossil Site has produced another animal that is completely new to science. This time, it is an ancient type of small pond turtle.Dr. Blaine Schubert, associate professor in the Department of Geosciences at East Tennessee State University and director of the ETSU and General Shale Natural History Museum, recently completed a paper about two new species of the oldest fossil musk turtles known, one of which was discovered at the Gray Fossil Site. The paper was completed with Jason Bourque, a paleontologist and preparator at the Florida Museum of Natural History who is particularly well-known for his research on turtles. The paper was published earlier this year in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology and describes two new species of musk turtles, one from Gray and the other from Florida. “Turtles from the Gray Fossil Site are significant because they fill in major gaps in the fossil record and can teach us about the evolution and prehistoric distribution of many turtle groups that inhabit North America today, including musk turtles, painted turtles, box turtles, and snapping turtles among others,” Schubert and Bourque wrote. “Because our fossils fill significant gaps in the fossil record, they tend to represent previously undescribed new species that show intermediate characteristics between more ancient and modern forms. It truly is a wonderful glimpse of evolution in action.” Musk turtles are small and spend much of their time underwater. These turtles earned the name “musk turtle” from their ability to emit a foul, musky odor from scent glands along the edge of their shell.read more -http://www.heraldcourier.com/news/new-species-of-turtle-nicknamed-old-stinky-found-at-gray/article_ece01290-15f2-11e5-a421-33f650961ee6.html