A giant Upper Jurassic turtle revealed by its trackways |
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| Authors: | CHRISTIAN GAILLARD PAUL BERNIER GEORGES BARALE JEAN-PAUL BOURSEAU ERIC BUFFETAUT RUBEN EZQUERRA JEAN-CLAUDE GALL FRANCE DE LAPPARENT DE BROIN SABINE RENOUS SYLVIE WENZ |
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| Institution: | UMR CNRS 5125, Paléoenvironnements et Paléobiosphère UniversitéClaude Bernard Lyon-1, Géode, 2 rue Raphaël Dubois F-69622 Villeurbanne Cedex Christian.[];UMR CNRS 5125, Paléoenvironnements et Paléobiosphère UniversitéClaude Bernard Lyon-1, Géode, 2 rue Raphaël Dubois F-69622 Villeurbanne Cedex Paul.[];UMR CNRS 5125, Paléoenvironnements et Paléobiosphère UniversitéClaude Bernard Lyon-1, Géode, 2 rue Raphaël Dubois F-69622 Villeurbanne Cedex Georges.[];UMR CNRS 5125, Paléoenvironnements et Paléobiosphère UniversitéClaude Bernard Lyon-1, Géode, 2 rue Raphaël Dubois F-69622 Villeurbanne Cedex Jean-Paul.[];UMR CNRS 5125, Paléoenvironnements et Paléobiosphère UniversitéClaude Bernard Lyon-1, Géode, 2 rue Raphaël Dubois F-69622 Villeurbanne Cedex Miguel.[];CNRS 16 cour du Liégat F-75013 Paris Eric.[];Ecole et Observatoire des Sciences de la Terre UniversitéLouis Pasteur Strasbourg-1, 1 rue Blessig F-67084 Strasbourg Cedex [];UMR CNRS 8569 Laboratoire de Paléontologie Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle 8 rue Buffon F-75005 Paris [];UMR CNRS 8569 Laboratoire de Paléontologie Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle 8 rue Buffon F-75005 Paris [];UMR CNRS 8570 Laboratoire d'Anatomie Comparée Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle 55 rue Buffon F-75005 Paris [] |
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| Abstract: | Exceptional fossilization of large tetrapod swimming traces occurs in the Cerin Lagerstätte (Jura Mountains, France). These trackways are imprinted in Jurassic (Late Kimmeridgian) lagoonal fine-grained limestones and are attributed to giant turtles, which swam with a simultaneous movement of their forelimbs like the modern ones. These turtles swam in very shallow waters close to land, perhaps near a nesting area. As a major consequence, these new ichnologic data place the origin of true large marine turtles during the Jurassic period and not during the Cretaceous period as previously considered on the basis of skeletal remains. |
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| Keywords: | Lithographic Limestone Swimming Traces Trackways Turtle Upper Jurassic |
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