Polysternon Isonae, a New Species of Turtle That Lived With Dinosaurs in Isona (Spanish Pyrenees)

ScienceDaily (Feb. 27, 2012) — Researchers* have recently published in the online edition of the journal Cretaceous Research the discovery and description of a turtle from the end of the age of dinosaurs.They have named this new species as Polysternon isonae, in recognition of the municipality of Isona I Conca Dellà (Catalonia, Spain), where the fossil remains of the specimen type have been found.

The abundance of dinosaur fossils that lived between 65 and 70 million years ago in the area currently occupied by the Pyrenees It is well known. In this range we find dozens of sites with bones, footprints and eggs of the last dinosaurs that inhabited our planet, the Tremp basin being one of the areas with the highest concentration of fossils.

However, lesser-known are the other organisms that completed the ecosystems at the end of the Cretaceous period, consisting of other vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, fungi, etc. A common feature of these ecosystems were turtles. In the Pyrenean sites, their fossils are relatively abundant and, in general, consist of isolated shell plates or small sets of plates that can help us get a general idea of the morphology and size of the animal. Instead, the entire shell finding is rare and even more exceptional are the findings where parts of the skeleton are preserved within the shell.

Read on:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120227111236.htm