Saturday, 5 December 2015

Xiaochelys ningchengensis - Fossil Discovery Reveals New Species of Jehol Turtle

Reconstruction of Xiaochelys ningchengensis in its freshwater environment, preying on a small fish called Lycoptera. Image credit: W.S. Wang.The Jehol Biota is a rich Cretaceous ecosystem preserved in a multi-layered rock formation cropping out in the Chinese provinces of Liaoning, Hebei and Inner Mongolia. A huge variety of ancient organisms became fossilized there 125 million years ago.
Over the course of the last two decades, a large number of turtle fossils were recovered from the Jehol Biota but very few of them were described.
Dr Chang-Fu Zhou of the Shenyang Normal University and Dr Márton Rabi of the University of Tübingen and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences have now identified a new species of Jehol turtle and named it Xiaochelys ningchengensis.
According to a new paper published in the journal Scientific Reports, this new species is so unique that it also represents a new genus.
Dr Rabi and Dr Zhou also investigated its possible relationship with today’s chelonians (turtles, tortoises, and terrapins).READ MORE -http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/xiaochelys-ningchengensis-new-species-jehol-turtle-03485.html

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