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Information about Proganochelys

Proganochelys
Fossil range: Late Triassic
Conservation status
Extinct (fossil)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Sauropsida
Subclass:Anapsida
Order:Chelonia
Suborder:Proganochelydia
Family:Proganochelidae
Genus:Proganochelys


Proganochelys
Translation:
Type:basal turtle
Length:3 ft 4 in (1 m)
Height:
Height (shoulder):
Height (head):
Weight:
Movement:quadruped
Period:
Age:210 million years ago
Diet:herbivore
Environment:
Distribution:Germany
Found by:
Named by:
Year found:
The oldest known turtle.


Proganochelys is the oldest turtle species discovered to date, known only from fossils found in Germany and Thailand in strata from the late Triassic, dating to approximately 210 million years ago. It has several synonymns, including Chelytherium ("Turtle Beast"), Psammochelys ("Sand Turtle"), Stegochelys ("Roof Turtle") and Triassochelys ("Triassic Turtle"). Until relatively recently it was popularly known by the last name.

In life it was about 1 m long, its overall appearance resembling modern turtles in many respects: it lacked teeth, likely had a beak and had the characteristic heavily armored shell formed from bony plates and ribs which fused together into a solid cage around the internal organs. There are some notable differences compared to modern turtles, however: its long tail had spikes and terminated as a club, its head could not be retracted under the shell, and its neck was protected by small spines. While it lacked teeth, it did have "small denticles that formed a pavement over some of the bones of the palate".

Because of its generally advanced characteristics however, most biologists feel that Proganochelys, while the oldest known turtle found thus far, cannot be the oldest turtle species and thus it is quite possible even older fossils may one day be found.

External links

The Late Triassic (also known as Upper Triassic, or Keuper) is the third and final of three epochs of the Triassic period. It spans the time between 228 ± 2 Ma and 199.6 ± 0.6 Ma (million years ago).
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conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive either in the present day or the future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing the conservation status of a species: not simply the number remaining, but the
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For other uses of the term, see Fossil (disambiguation)


FOSSIL is a standard for allowing serial communication for telecommunications programs under the DOS operating system.
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
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Sauropsida ("lizard-face") is a group of amniotes that includes reptiles, dinosaurs, and birds. Among amniotes, sauropsida is distinguished from theropsida ("beast-face"), also called synapsids.

Taxonomy

Classification to order level, after Benton, 2004.
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Anapsida
Osborn, 1903

Orders

Testudines (Turtles, tortoises & terrapins)
Mesosauria - extinct
Millerettidae - extinct
Nyctiphruretidae - extinct
Pareiasauridae - extinct
Procolophonidae - extinct
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Chelonia
Latreille in Sonnini & Latreille, 1802

Species: C. mydas

Binomial name
Chelonia mydas
(Linnaeus, 1758)


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Testudines
Linnaeus, 1758

Diversity
ca. 300 species in 14 extant families.

blue: sea turtles, black: land turtles


Suborders

Cryptodira
Pleurodira
See text for families.
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Anthem
"Das Lied der Deutschen" (third stanza)
also called "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit"
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Testudines
Linnaeus, 1758

Diversity
ca. 300 species in 14 extant families.

blue: sea turtles, black: land turtles


Suborders

Cryptodira
Pleurodira
See text for families.
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Anthem
"Das Lied der Deutschen" (third stanza)
also called "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit"
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Anthem
Phleng Chat
Royal anthem
Phleng Sansoen Phra Barami

Capital
(and largest city) Bangkok [1]

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The Triassic is a geologic period that extends from about 251 to 199 Ma (million years ago). As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events.
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Denticles are body surface structures found on some fish and insects.

Fish

Denticles or placoid scales are small outgrowths which cover the skin of many cartilaginous fish including sharks.
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This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.
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