Casanova. Chua. Cokieng.

Kingdom: Phylum: Class: Superorder: Order:

Animalia Chordata Reptilia Chelonia

Macartney, 1802

Subphylum: Vertebrata

Testudines
Linnaeus, 1758

Subclass Anapsida

Superorder: Chelonia Order Testudines (turtles)

Suborder Cryptodira (Straight Neck Turtles) Superfamily Testudinoidea Family Chelydridae (Snapping Turtles) Family Emydidae (Pond Turtles/Box and Water
Turtles) Family Testudinidae (Tortoises) Superfamily Trionychoidea Family Dermatemydidae (River Turtles) Family Kinosternidae (Mud and Musk Turtles) Family Carettochelyidae (Pig-nose Turtles) Family Trionychidae (Softshell Turtles) Superfamily Chelonioidea Family Cheloniidae (Sea Turtles) Family Dermochelyidae (Leatherback Turtles)

Suborder Pleurodira (Side Neck Turtles) Family Pelomedusidae (Afro-American Sideneck

Turtles) Family Chelidae (Austro-American Sideneck Turtles)

Painted pond turtle (genus Chrysemys)

Modified from the typical vertebrate shape Reptilian head followed by an unusually long and flexible neck

Trunk (incased in a hard shell) is long and flat

Transverse axis is elongated while the other axes are shortened.

Large horny shield covering the shell and small scales and thickenings on the legs, tail and other exposed parts. Skin of the head is usually bare but in some turtles is marked off into large head shields.

On the tip of the head, the external nares permits the animal to breathe air

The jaws lack teeth and instead are clothed with hard horny beaks.

The large eyes have upper and lower eyelids and a nictitating membrance located in the anterior corner of the eye.

Just behind the angle of the jaws is seen the circular eardrum flush with surface, as in frogs

It encloses the trunk It is covered with a layer of keratin It consists of a dorsal arched carapace and a ventral flat plasteron, and lateral bridges connecting the two together.

Turtles have existed for 200 million years, making them the oldest of all surviving reptiles, thanks to their shells!

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A layer of cartilaginous bones which form the shape of broadened ribs. A layer of membrane bones or thecals. Osteoderms or epithecals, also known as the dermal armor, are fused plates of bone that make up the general shape of the shell and give it it's rigidity. The last covering in chelonians are the scutes, the tuff outer scales covering the shell and giving it it's color and texture.

The carapace is the fusion of about 50 bones - the ribs and vertebrae. It usually has 38 scutes. Usually more arched in female than in male turtles

The plastron is the fusion of bones including the clavicles (collar bones), bones between the clavicles, and portions of the ribs. It usually has 12-14 scutes.

Some turtles have a moveable joint, usually in the plastron, which acts as a "hinge" and allows the turtle to pull the carapace and plastron together tightly, while the turtle retracts its body into the shell. The head, neck, limbs and tail can be neatly folded under the margins of the shell.

http://reptilis.net/chelonia/bodyplan.html http://home.pcisys.net/~dlblanc/articles/Rep tiliaTax.php#Note1 http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c= 17+1797&aid=2700