Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The first record of a soft-shelled turtle (Testudines: Pan-Trionychidae) from southern Balkans (Pliocene, Gefira, N. Greece) and new information from bone histology

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
The Science of Nature Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Soft-shelled turtles (Pan-Trionychidae) are not included in the present-day chelonian fauna of Greece and have been unknown in the Greek fossil record up to now. Here, we report the first fossil occurrence of a soft-shelled turtle from Greece, originating from the Pliocene Gefira Member (Angelochori Formation), in the lower Axios valley. The corresponding specimens were discovered with several mammalian remains, most of them attributable to the mastodon of Auvergne, Anancus arvernensis. The chelonian material includes five carapacial fragments that belong to the same individual and can be attributed to Pan-Trionychidae based on the typical sculpturing on the dorsal side of the carapace. Most of these bony plates were histologically sampled and thereby provide evidence for the “plywood” structure, another characteristic of pan-trionychids. They represent the first extended sampling of trionychid plates that belong to the same individual, allowing the documentation of the variation of the relevant trionychid morphologies in the carapace. These findings expand the paleobiogeographic range of this taxon to the southern Balkans and Greece and allow a better estimation of the chelonian paleo-fauna of the area. They are also important for the temporal distribution of this clade in the Paleoarctic, as they join specimens from Italy as being the last trionychids in Europe.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Batsch AJ (1788) Versuch einer Anleitung, zur Kenntniß und Geschichte der Thiere und Mineralien. Akademische Buchhandlung, Jena, p 528

  • Broin F de (1977) Contribution à l’étude des Chéloniens. Chéloniens continentaux du Crétacé et du Tertiaire de France. Mémoires du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, C, 38, I–IX, 1–366

  • Chesi F (2008) Il registro fossile italiano dei cheloni. PhD dissertation. Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy

  • Cope ED (1868) On the origin of genera. Proc Acad Nat Sci Philadelphia 20:242–300

    Google Scholar 

  • Danilov IG (2005) Die fossilen Schildkröten Europas. In: Fritz U (ed) Handbuch der Reptilien und Amphibien Europas, Band 3/IIIB, Schildkröten (Testudines). Aula, Wiebelsheim, pp 329–441

    Google Scholar 

  • Danilov I, Vitek N (2013) Cretaceous Trionychids from Asia: an expanded review of their record and biogeography. In: Brinkman D, Holroyd P, Gardner J, Brinkman D, Holroyd P, Gardner J (eds) Morphology and evolution of turtles, proceedings of the Gaffney Turtle Symposium. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 419–438

  • de Lapparent de Broin F (2001) The European turtle fauna from the Triassic to the Present. Dumerilia 4(3):155–217

    Google Scholar 

  • de Lapparent de Broin F (2002) A giant tortoise from the Late Pliocene of Lesvos Island (Greece) and its possible relationships. Ann Géol Pays Helléniques 34:99–130

    Google Scholar 

  • Delfino M (2002) Erpetofaune Italiane del Neogene e del Quaternario. PhD dissertation. Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Italy

    Google Scholar 

  • Delfino M, Scheyer TM, Fritz U, Sánchez-Villagra MR (2010) An integrative approach to examining a homology question: shell structures in soft-shell turtles. Biol J Linn Soc 99:462–476

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dimaki M (2002) Herpetofauna of Rhodes and the rest of the Dodecanese. In: Masseti M (ed) Island of deer, natural history of the Fallow Deer of Rhodes and of the vertebrates of the Dodecanese. Environmental organization, Greece, pp 63–69

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardner JD, Russel AP (1994) Carapacial variation among soft-shelled turtles (Testudines: Trionychidae), and its relevance to taxonomic and systematic studies of fossil taxa. N Jahr Geol Paläontol 193(2):209–244

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirasawa T, Nagashima H, Kuratani S (2013) The endoskeletal origin of the turtle carapace. Nat Comm 4:2107. doi:10.1038/ncomms3107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iverson JB (1992) A checklist with distribution maps of the turtles of the world. Richmond, pp 363

  • Joyce W, Parham J, Gauthier J (2004) Developing a protocol for the conversion of rank-based taxon names to phylogenetically defined clade names, as exemplified by turtles. J Paleontol 78:989–1013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karl HV (1999) Die Zoogeographie der känozoischen Weichschildkröte Trionyx triunguis Forskäl, 1775. Joanneum-Geol und Paläontol 1:27–60

    Google Scholar 

  • Kotsakis T (1980) Révision des tortues (Emydidae, Testudinidae, Trionychidae) du Plio-Pléistocène de Valdarno supérieur (Toscane, Italie). Quat 22:11–37

    Google Scholar 

  • Koufos GD (2006) The Neogene mammal localities of Greece: faunas, chronology and biostratigraphy. Hell J Geosci 41:183–214

    Google Scholar 

  • Koufos GD, Pavlides SB (1988) Correlation between the continental deposits of the lower Axios valley and Ptolemais basin. Bull Geol Soc Greece 20(2):9–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Lyson TR, Bever GS, Scheyer TM, Hsian AY, Gauthier JA (2013) Evolutionary origin of the turtle shell. Curr Biol 23:1113–1119

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Meylan PA (1987) The phylogenetic relationships of soft-shelled turtles (Family Trionychidae). Bull American Mus Nat Hist 186(1):1–101

    Google Scholar 

  • Pérez García A, Murelaga X, Mancheño MÁ, Fierro I (2011) Nuevos datos sobre las tortugas del Puerto de la Cadena (Mioceno superior de Murcia). Geogaceta 50(2):185–188

    Google Scholar 

  • Plummer MV, Lee TN, Ellis NE (2008) Effect of a sand substrate on the growth and condition of Apalone mutica hatchlings. J Hepretol 42:550–554

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheyer T (2007) Comparative bone histology of the turtle shell (carapace and plastron): implications for turtle systematics, functional morphology and turtle origins. PhD dissertation, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Institut für Paläontologie

  • Scheyer TM, Sander PM (2004) Histology of ankylosaur osteoderms: implications for systematics and function. J Vertebr Paleont 24:874–893

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scheyer TM, Sander PM, Joyce WG, Böhme W, Witzel U (2007) A plywood structure in the shell of fossil and living soft-shelled turtles (Trionychidae) and its evolutionary implications. Org Divers Evol 7:136–144

  • Scheyer TM, Mörs T, Einarsson E (2012) First record of the soft-shelled turtles (Cryptodira, Trionychidae) from the Late Cretaceous of Europe. J Vertebr Paleont 32:1027–1032

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Syrides GE (1990) Lithostratigraphic, biostratigraphic and palaeogeographic study of the Neogene–Quaternary sedimentary deposits of Chalkidiki Peninsula, Macedonia, Greece. PhD dissertation, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, School of Geology, Greece

  • Taskavak E, Akcinar SC (2009) Marine records of the Nile soft-shelled turtle. Trionyx triunguis from Turkey. Mar Biodivers Rec. doi:10.1017/S1755267208000092

  • Taskavak E, Reimann MJ, Polder WN (1999) First record of Trionyx triunguis from Kos Island, Greece with comments on its occurrence in the eastern Mediterranean. Chelonian Conserv Biol 3:510–512

  • Tsoukala E (1991) A Coelodonta antiquitatis praecursor Guerin (Mammalia, Rhinocerotidae, zone 24) from the lower Axios valley deposits (Gephyra, Macedonia, N. Greece). Bull Geol Soc Greece 25:473–485

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsoukala E, Mol, D (in press) The Proboscidea of the Early Villafranchian site of Milia (Grevena, Macedonia, Greece). Quat Int pp 1-21

  • Vitek N, Joyce W (in press, 2015) A review of the fossil record of New World turtles of the clade Pan-Trionychidae. Bull Yale Peabody Mus

  • Vlachos E (2015) The fossil chelonians of Greece. Systematics—Evolution—Stratigraphy—Palaeoecology. PhD dissertation, Scientific Annals of the School of Geology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece 173, pp. 479

Download references

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to M. Savvelis for discovering and donating the specimens for this study. We are indebted to A. Plougarlis (LGPUT) for preparing the thin sections used in this study. Ass. Prof. L. Papadopoulou (AUTH) provided valuable assistance for the preparation and analysis of the thin sections from SEM analysis. MSc I.M. Zougrou further analysed the sections for synchrotron analysis. We are grateful to the editorial work of S. Thatje and to the efforts of W. Joyce, A. Pérez-García and two anonymous reviewers for several comments and linguistic corrections that greatly improved the manuscript. We thank I. Danilov for valuable comments in an earlier version of the manuscript. We would like to thank M. Harzhauser and U. Göhlich (NHMW) and D. Nagel (IPUW) for providing access to study comparative collections. Access to prepare the thin sections and to use the microscope in the Laboratory of Petrography (AUTH) was granted by Prof. A. Koroneos, whereas access to the Laboratory of Geology of School of Geology (AUTH) was provided by Prof. D. Kilias and Ass. Prof. M. Tranos. EV was supported by a grant of the Research Committee of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (50141).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CONICET and Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, Av. Fontana 140, 9100, Trelew, Chubut, Argentina

    Evangelos Vlachos

  2. School of Geology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University Campus, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Evangelos Vlachos & Evangelia Tsoukala

  3. CONICET, Instituto de Investigaciones en Paleobiología y Geología, Universidad Nacional de Río Negro, Museo Carlos Ameghino, Belgrano 1700, Paraje Pichi Ruca (predio Marabunta), 8300, Cipolletti, Río Negro, Argentina

    Ignacio Cerda

Authors
  1. Evangelos Vlachos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ignacio Cerda
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Evangelia Tsoukala
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Evangelos Vlachos.

Additional information

Communicated by: Sven Thatje

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Vlachos, E., Cerda, I. & Tsoukala, E. The first record of a soft-shelled turtle (Testudines: Pan-Trionychidae) from southern Balkans (Pliocene, Gefira, N. Greece) and new information from bone histology. Sci Nat 102, 45 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-015-1295-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-015-1295-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation