Turtle

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For other uses, see Turtle (disambiguation).

Turtles

<tr><td>Kingdom:<td>Animalia <tr><td>Phylum:<td>Chordata <tr><td>Class:<td>Reptilia <tr><td>Order:<td>Testudines </table> <tr><th bgcolor=pink>Families <tr><td> See text </table> Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudinata, most of whose body is shielded by a special bony shell developed from their ribs. The term turtle is used for the larger aquatic species and often confined to martime variants; aquatic fresh-water turtles then being referred to as terrapins. The term is also used (esp. North America) to refer to all members of the order, including tortoises, which are fresh water varieties that are predominantly land based. The order of Testudines includes both extant (living) and extinct varieties. About 300 species are alive today. Sea turtles grow to large sizes and live in the oceans in the temperate and tropical regions of the earth. All turtles have a protective shell around their bodies. The top part of their case is called the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. Turtles generally live a long time; some individuals are known to have lived longer than 150 years. The first turtles already existed in the era of the dinosaurs, some 200 million years ago. Turtles are the only surviving branch of the even more ancient clade Anapsida, which includes groups such as the procolophonoids, millerettids and pareiasaurs. All anapsid skulls lack a temporal opening. All other extant amniotes have temporal openings (although in mammals the hole is obscured). Most of the anapsids became extinct in the late Permian period, with the exception of the procolophonoids and the precursors of the testudines (turtles). Even though they spend large amounts of their lives underwater, turtles are air-breathing reptiles, and must surface at regular intervals to refill their lungs with fresh air. They also spend part of their lives on dry land. Sea turtles lay their eggs on dry sandy beaches, and are highly endangered largely as a result of beach development and over hunting. Aquatic respiration in Australian freshwater turtles is currently being studied. Some species have large cloacal cavities that are lined with many finger-like projections. These projections, called "papillae", have a rich blood supply, and serve to increase the surface area of the cloaca. The turtles can take up dissolved oxygen from the water using these papillae, in much the same way that fish use gills to respire. image:leatherback.jpg

A sea turtle. Photo credit: NOAA

Contents

1 Order Testudines - Turtles

2 Turtles in pop culture

3 See also

4 External links

Order Testudines - Turtles

Suborder Cryptodira

Family Chelydridae (Snapping Turtles)
Superfamily Testudinoidea
Family Testudinidae (Tortoises)
Family Bataguridae (Asian River Turtles, Leaf and Roofed Turtles, Asian Box Turtles)
Family Emydidae (Pond Turtles/Box and Water Turtles)

Superfamily Trionychoidea
Family Carettochelyidae (Pignose Turtles)
Family Trionychidae (Softshell Turtles)

Superfamily Kinosternoidea
Family Dermatemydidae (River Turtles)
Family Kinosternidae (Mud and Musk Turtles)
Family Platysternidae (Big-headed Turtles)

Superfamily Chelonioidea
Family Cheloniidae (Sea Turtles)
Family Dermochelyidae (Leatherback Turtles)

Suborder Pleurodira

Family Chelidae (Austro-American Sideneck Turtles)

Superfamily Pelomedusoidea
Family Pelomedusidae (Afro-American Sideneck Turtles)
Family Podocnemididae (Madagascan Big-headed and American Sideneck River Turtles)

Turtles in pop culture

Turtles are depicted in Western culture as, snapping turtles aside, an easygoing and patient creature.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are comic characters.

In the song Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz, Sesame Street character Big Bird ponders if Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz is a "Or strange, exotic turtle/You never see in a zoo".

Terry Pratchett's Discworld rests on the back of the gigantic star-turtle Great A'Tuin.

The mascot of the University of Maryland, College Park is the diamondback terrapin; which is also the state reptile of Maryland.

External links

UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology
Bimodally-breathing Turtle research
Turtle Trax: Excellent marine turtle site
California Turtle and Tortoise Club: Informative and entertaining in equal measure
Turtle Times: A turtle search engine!

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