Durante las XL Jornadas de la Sociedad Española de Paleontología se presentó la comunicación titulada: “Humera and femora of Podocnemididae (Testudines, Pleurodira) over time: morphological comparison of several extinct and extant representatives”, por parte de María Gutiérrez-Gálvez y Adán Pérez-García. En este trabajo se analiza la morfología y las adaptaciones de los húmeros y fémures de numerosas especies del linaje Podocnemididae y taxones cercanos a este. Se han comparado entre sí incluyendo representantes tanto pertenecientes a la biodiversidad actual como extintos. Se han podido identificar adaptaciones ligadas a modos de vida más relacionados con medios salobres, y adaptaciones relacionadas con el gigantismo observado en algunos taxones. El resumen es el siguiente:
Podocnemididae is a taxon of pleurodiran turtles which appear in the Upper Cretaceous to the present. The biogeographical distribution of this lineage was very extended, both during the Upper Cretaceous and during the Paleogene, but it is currently restricted to Madagascar and South America. Podocnemididae is identified by an abundant fossil record, with many extinct species having been described. Most of them are known by the shell and/or the skull, but the appendicular skeleton was documented for only a few species. However, unpublished appendicular material from many of them has been found. Despite the usual lack of study of these skeletal elements, the appendicular skeleton has importance to understand the habitat of the species, as well as differences in mobility. All extant podocnemidid turtles are freshwater forms. But several extinct species of Pleurodira managed to adapt to brackish or even open marine environments. These differences in the habitat imply adaptations in the appendicular skeleton. Among this skeletal region, this work focuses on the comparative qualitative characterization of the humerus and the femur (i.e., the generally most abundant and best preserved appendicular bones) of several pleurodiran representatives, belonging to Podocnemididae. Morphological variations linked to the evolution within various lineages, but also to adaptations to different environments, generating possible convergent modifications, will be considered.
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