Discover Top Posts Tagged with #softshell turtle

Popular Recent

African Softshell Turtle (Trionyx triunguis), family Trionychidae, Burkina Faso

Vulnerable.

This turtle was tagged as part of a study, and then released.

photograph by Pearson McGovern Turtle Survival Alliance

#softshell turtle #turtle #trionyx #trionychidae #reptile #herpetology #africa #animals #nature

Smooth softshell turtle By: John Gerard From: Life Nature Library: Reptiles 1963

#smooth softshell turtle #softshell turtle #turtle #reptile #1963 #1960s #John Gerard #Life Nature Library

Today’s turtle is the Asian Giant Softshell Turtle!

Image ID courtesy of @tortally-rad!

Image source

#softshell turtle #turtle #daily turtles #turtles #asian giant softshell turtle #frog-faced softshell turtle #cantor's giant softshell turtle #softshell turtles #image description needed

One grumpy manhole cover

Spiny softshell turtle. Released

#turtle #turtles #softshell turtle #spiny softshell #reptile

Petri Dish says hi

#softshell turtle #hes in a jovial mood today #the horrors continue tomorrow unfortunately #mature content warning ? is my turtle too sexy or

Spec-Dinovember Day 22: Parody, an incorrect/outdated reconstruction that turns out to be a real creature

The first fossils of Therizinosaurus to be found were the fragmentary remains of three massive claws. Uncertain of what kind of creature they belonged to, they were tentatively hypothesized to be from a large turtle-like reptile. Many further excavations revealed the therizinosaurs and segnosaurs to be the same animals, and that they were very odd theropod dinosaurs. However, a continent away and across the Tethys there would yet be a giant scythe-clawed turtle. Austrochitra maleevii is the largest member of the trionychidae family and one of the largest turtles, matching Archelon in dimensions but falling short in mass. Like the other giant turtles it is marine in habit, natively found within the shallow Eromanga Sea which covers much of Australia in the mid-Cretaceous. They are carnivorous and will attempt to eat just about anything they can catch. Much like their relatives they often wait buried in the seabed for prey to come close. also like their relatives they are capable of gas exchange via the vascularized oral tissue. They are rather swift swimmers if the need arises, occasionally pursuing prey for short bursts if their initial ambush misses. The large claws aid them in digging and tossing sand and mud over themselves when they hide, and in fending off potential predators or rivals. Their range is quite limited as their hunting method requires a loose sediment floor and comparatively shallow water depth. Occasional vagrants can be found out around the coasts of greater Australia, but no permanent populations have been able to establish themselves outside the Eromanga Sea.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not a dinosaur this time, but tangentially relevant. I dunno why, but it just felt like it had to be a softshell, and like the family is already named for having 3 claws so... it kinda fits. Australia is a long ways from the original Therizinosaurus locality, but I couldn't just plop this thing back into the Nemegt fauna with how well sampled it is. So I done what I've been doing for all these and trying to think of times and places that are poorly represented. The inland sea has produced the most Mesozoic fossils from anywhere in Australia, but that's just how scrappy most of the fossils of that time are there, so I went with it. Plus I've always just kinda had a soft spot for the dinosaurs of Down-Under ever since seeing the original Walking With Dinosaurs and reading Dinosaurs of Darkness (mine's a 1st edition hardcover, but it appears this 2nd edition has a few new chapters at the end, cool!). Also I don't know anything about turtles, so turtle experts how'd I do?

I guess I never showed you my bag before... I'm super proud of it.

It's a hatchling florida softshell and juvenile female spiny softshell

#turtle #softshell turtle

HAPPY TURTLE DAY EVERYONE!

Here is a little tribute to all things turtley, featuring a certain turtle-loving makanae :3

Anyway excuse me as I nerd out for abit:

The turtles (order Testudines) are a group of reptiles instantly recognisable thanks to their bowed legs, slow movements and, most striking of all, their shells. This unique structure, formed from the ribs and a few other bones, offers amazing protection against predators, even allowing the vulnerable head and neck to be retracted inside in the vast majority of species. Turtles proper evolved in the late Jurassic, and have since become extremely successful, found on every continent except Antarctica and coming in a wide variety of forms, including terrestrial herbivores, semi-aquatic omnivores, freshwater ambush-hunters and marine wanderers. However, the greater group that the turtles belong to, the Pantestudines, had their start in the Triassic (possibly even earlier, as a Permian reptile called Eunotosaurus is sometimes considered to be a turtle relative, but whether it actually is is unclear). Most of these animals would have looked very similar to modern turtles, differing only in a few minor anotomical traits, but the earliest forms would have more resembled lizards. Even so, these proto turtles already had the beginnings of a shell, in the form of their expanded ribs.