Morphology forms the most fundamental level of data in vertebrate palaeontology because it
is through interpretations of morphology that taxa are identified, creating the basis for broad …

Fish, reptiles, and mammals can possess flexible dermal armor for protection. Here we seek
to find the means by which Nature derives its protection by examining the scales from …

Natural materials have always attracted intensive attention from multidisciplinary scientists
all over the world. In fact, the ingenious and reasonable synthetic strategies of the limited …

Despite their complex evolutionary history and the rich fossil record, the higher level
phylogeny and historical biogeography of living turtles have not been investigated in a …

Although often overlooked, the integument of many tetrapods is reinforced by a
morphologically and structurally diverse assemblage of skeletal elements. These elements …

The Triassic timescale based on nonmarine tetrapod biostratigraphy and biochronology
divides Triassic time into eight land-vertebrate faunachrons (LVFs) with boundaries defined …

Turtles (Testudinata) are the clade of amniotes characterized by a complete turtle shell. New
insights into the phylogeny of the group have revealed that a diverse assemblage of fossil …

The origin of the turtle shell has perplexed biologists for more than two centuries [1]. It was
not until Odontochelys semitestacea [2] was discovered, however, that the fossil and …

Phylonyms is an implementation of PhyloCode, which is a set of principles, rules, and
recommendations governing phylogenetic nomenclature. Nearly 300 clades-lineages of …

The famous bone beds of the Morrison Formation, formed one hundred and fifty million
years ago and running from Wyoming down through the red rock region of the American …