Turtles have relatives with birds

Turtles may look like relatives of snakes and lizards, but DNA shows that they have more in common with birds.

American scientists have drawn this conclusion when using a new gene sequencing technique called UCE to find the final answer to the debate about the evolution of turtles. The results reveal that the turtles belong to a large group called "Archelosauria" along with their relatives, birds, crocodiles and dinosaurs.

Experts at the California Academy of Sciences suspect, the new group will be the largest vertebrate group ever named scientifically. Their tree of life is consistent with time and space patterns that recognize the occurrence of turtles in the fossil record, highlighting the accuracy of the method.

Turtles have more in common with DNA than birds and lizards.(Photo: CCTV)

"Dinosaurs set, including birds, and Archosauria group of crocodiles. Tortoise belongs to the turtle sub-class. Therefore, the new name we set for the group including turtles, dinosaurs and crocodiles is Archelosauria" , Dr. James Parham, a research team member, said.

Although UCE technology has been around for 2 years, this is the first time scientists have used this tool to map genetics of vertebrates and how they relate to each other. This technique exploits the analysis of many genetically preserved portions between different species.

The discovery also deciphered an evolutionary mystery about soft-shell turtles - a group of exotic, non-scaly turtles with snort-like noses. Until recently, studies have linked soft-shell turtles to a smaller semi-aquatic group called mud turtles, despite the fact that soft-shell turtles appear in fossil records long before mud turtles .

With large amounts of data supporting each branch evolved in the turtle's genealogy, scientists were able to compare their evolution not only across species, but also across fossil records. Application of each continent.

They put soft-shell turtles into their alliance on evolutionary plants, far removed from any other turtle species.

According to the research team, the long, independent development history helps explain their remarkable appearance as well as their ancient presence in fossil records.