The origin of turtles and their uniquely shelled body plan is one of the longest standing
problems in vertebrate biology. The unfulfilled need for a hypothesis that both explains the …

The fossil record of the turtle clade Baenidae ranges from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian—
Albian) to the Eocene. The group is present throughout North America during the Early …

Turtles have a highly modified body plan, including a rigid shell that constrains postcranial
anatomy. Skull morphology and neck mobility may therefore be key to ecological …

Turtles are relatively species-poor, but anatomically very distinct from other reptiles, which
yields longstanding debates about their origin among amniotes. On the other hand, an …

Bird necks display unparalleled levels of morphological diversity compared to other
vertebrates, yet it is unclear what factors have structured this variation. Using three …

In recent years, paleoneurology became a very popular research field and hundreds of brain-
endocasts were described. The interpretation of a dorsal protuberance of the brain-endocast …

The morphology of the temporal region in the tetrapod skull traditionally has been a widely
discussed feature of vertebrate anatomy. The evolution of different temporal openings in …

Organisms comprise multiple interacting parts, but few quantitative studies have analysed
multi-element systems, limiting understanding of phenotypic evolution. We investigate how …

In the past few years, new fossil finds and novel methodological approaches have prompted
intensive discussions about the phylogenetic affinities of turtles and rekindled the debate on …

Background Previous studies have demonstrated that the clear morphological differences
among vertebrae across the presacral column are accompanied by heterogeneous …