Newly identified softshell turtle lived alongside T. rex and Triceratops
Tyrannosaurus rex. The find adds important information to scientists' understanding of softshell turtles more broadly, including the potential effects of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, which took place in this same time period, on their evolution.
"Until recently we didn't understand these softshell turtles very well," says Jasinski."However, we are starting to get more information on this extinct group of turtles and further understanding their evolution, including how they dealt with the mass extinction." A phylogenetic analysis, comparing the new species with other known trionychids, or softshell turtles, gave the scientists a better understanding of the group's evolutionary relationships. Their analysis placedand several other turtles in a distinct group of derived plastomenines, which they named Plastomenini. In addition, the researchers found a group of early trionychids, placing them in a newly established subfamily, Kuhnemydinae.
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