Plush Turtle by Ravensden
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Hello and welcome to our blog! We are Mango and Teal and we are just a bit more than one year old! We are Hermann's Tortoises bred in the UK and we now live with our kind owners!
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A new early diverging thalattosuchian (Crocodylomorpha) from the Early Jurassic (Pliensbachian) of Dorset, U.K. and implications for the origin and evolution of the group
Eric W. Wilberg,Pedro L. Godoy,Elizabeth F. Griffiths,Alan H. Turner &Roger B. J. Benson
ABSTRACT
Among archosaurs, thalattosuchian crocodylomorphs experienced the most extensive adaptations to the marine realm. Despite significant attention, the phylogenetic position of the group remains uncertain. Thalattosuchians are either the sister-group to Crocodyliformes, basal mesoeucrocodylians, or nest among longirostrine neosuchians.
The earliest definite thalattosuchians are Toarcian, and already possess many synapomorphies of the group. All phylogenetic hypotheses imply a ghost lineage extending at least to the Sinemurian, and a lack of older or more plesiomorphic forms may contribute to the uncertain phylogenetic placement of the group.
Here we describe a new species, Turnersuchus hingleyae, gen. et sp. nov., from the early Pliensbachian Belemnite Marl Member of the Charmouth Mudstone Formation (Dorset, U.K.). The specimen includes partially articulated cranial, mandibular, axial, and appendicular elements. It can be attributed to Thalattosuchia based on the following features: distinct fossa on the posterolateral corner of the squamosal; broad ventrolateral process of the otoccipital covering the dorsal surface of the quadrate; large supratemporal fenestrae lacking a flattened skull table; broadly exposed prootic; orbital process of quadrate lacking bony attachment with the braincase. This specimen represents the earliest thalattosuchian currently known from diagnostic material.
Phylogenetic analyses of two published datasets recover Turnersuchus as the earliest diverging thalattosuchian, and sister to Teleosauroidea + Metriorhynchoidea. Bayesian tip-dating analyses suggest a Rhaetian or Sinemurian divergence of Thalattosuchia from other crocodylomorphs, depending on topology, with confidence intervals spanning from the Norian to the Pliensbachian.
The new specimen extends the fossil record of Thalattosuchia, but the time-scaling analyses demonstrate that a significant ghost lineage remains.
Read the paper here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.2022.2161909
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Care home residents compared to ‘reptile house exhibits’ because of pandemic restrictions, Scots Covid inquiry hears | In Trend Today
Care home residents compared to ‘reptile house exhibits’ because of pandemic restrictions, Scots Covid inquiry hears
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Care home residents compared to ‘reptile house exhibits’ because of pandemic restrictions, Scots Covid inquiry hears | In Trend Today
Care home residents compared to ‘reptile house exhibits’ because of pandemic restrictions, Scots Covid inquiry hears
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Full Article on MAG NEWS
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Ark Toys Tortoise with beans
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not that I don't love the UK's native reptiles, all 5 of them, but I wish we had some more, and I wish they were bigger
I wish the UK had something crocodilian, or some sort of big monitor, maybe an actual big snake
but alas we are too cold
what we have, wonderful though they are, are three species of medium to small snake, and 3 little lizzies, one of which lacks legs
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