PG-18: turtles reach adult shell shapes at about 65% maximum carapace length.

ABSTRACT: Ontogenetic shell shape changes of turtles are often only documented for individual species. It is currently unclear how shell shape changes during ontogeny across species, if there are common trends, and at what point in ontogeny individuals reach their adult morphology. Inspired by questions of whether some morphologies are too juvenile to be included into macroevolutionary studies of shell shape, we develop ontogenetic shell shape curves based on landmarked 3D shell shapes of turtles. Species-specific allometric shape regressions confirm that turtles show marked ontogenetic shell shape change. Geometric morphometric analysis shows that juvenile turtles have rounded shells, and ontogenetic differentiation between species increases adult turtle disparity. Disparity analysis indicates that

SUBMITTER: Hermanson G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12325467 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature