Comments on: How the turtle got its shell through skeletal shifts and muscular origami

By: Slippy Lane

Slippy Lane — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:01:42 +0000

I’d have said a turtle was a kind of tortoise

By: Zach Miller

Zach Miller — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:11:53 +0000

Wh…what? A tortoise is a kind of turtle.

By: Ed Yong

Ed Yong — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 07:27:32 +0000

Exactly the same. The different names are more than a little confusing, but for an evolutionary biologist, they bear little significance. See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle#Turtle.2C_tortoise.2C_or_terrapin.3F

By: Robert

Robert — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 05:37:46 +0000

Is there an analogous development in tortoises?

By: Air Yeezy

Air Yeezy — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 09:19:36 +0000

It is really?so improbable.

By: Abhi 2.0

Abhi 2.0 — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:42:09 +0000

But the teenage mutant ninja turtles seem to have regular shoulder blades! Explain that will ya

By: Zach Miller

Zach Miller — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:50:43 +0000

THE AWESOME, IT BURNS. Seriously, the teaser for this paper was at SVP last year and I couldn’t wait until it was published. The scapula is inside the shell, but OUTSIDE the ribcage. Too cool!

By: Lilian Nattel

Lilian Nattel — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:42:01 +0000

That is very cool. One of my children does origami, so the analogy helped me visualize it.

By: DrYak

DrYak — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:31:24 +0000

Very cool – thanks. It would be interesting to look at how the R1 & R2 ribs become shortened. It appears in the literature as if the development of the distal part of the rib is controlled by a different mechanism to the proximal part which provides a relatively simple pathway for evolution to exploit. I wonder if they use the same mechanisms that other vertebrates use to shorten the lumbar ribs? The muscles are just wierd though…