The origin of the turtle shell: Mystery solved

A team of RIKEN researchers has finally solved the riddle of how the turtle shell originated. By observing the development of different animal species and confirming their results with fossil analysis and genomic data, researchers from the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology show that the shell on the turtle's back derives only from its ancestors' ribcage and not from a combination of internal and external bone structures as is often thought. Their study is published today in the journal Nature Communications.

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