World's Oldest Fossilized Sea Turtle Discovered

A team of researchers at the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt examined the completely preserved skeleton of a 120-million-year-old reptile, making it 25 million years older than the previously known oldest specimen.

"Based on the animals' morphology and the sediments they were found in, we are certain that we are indeed dealing with the oldest known fossil sea turtle," Dr. Edwin Cadena, a scholar of the Alexander von Humboldt foundation at the Senckenberg Research Institute, in a news release.

Researchers first came upon the fossilized turtle bones and shells from two sites near the community of Villa de Leyva in Colombia. The remains of the ancient reptiles were discovered and collected by hobby paleontologist Mary Luz Parra back in 2007, along with her brothers Juan and Freddy Parra. They have been stored in the collections of the "Centro de Investigaciones Paleontológicas" in Villa Leyva and the "University of California Museum of Paleontology," since.

Sea turtles are descendants of terrestrial and freshwater turtles that came from the Cretaceous period, dating back to around 65 million years ago. Back then, they split into land and sea dwellers, according to fossil evidence.

The researchers further examined the skeleton, along with two partially preserved shells and four additional skulls. Then, they placed the fossils in the turtle group Chelonioidea, based on various morphological characteristics. Turtles in this group dwell in tropical and subtropical oceans, including the modern Hawksbill Turtle and the Green Sea Turtle of turtle soup fame.

"This lends a special importance to every fossil discovery that can contribute to clarifying the phylogeny of the sea turtles," he concluded. 

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal PaleoBios.