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http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-11/caos-ssr112114.php
Abstract: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790314003819
A new genetic sequencing technique has found that turtles are not as closely related to lizards and snakes as previously thought; and instead have a closer relationship with birds, crocodiles and dinosaurs.
A team of scientists, including researchers from the California Academy of Sciences, has reconstructed a detailed "tree of life" for turtles. The specifics of how turtles are related--to one another, to other reptiles, and even to dinosaurs--have been hotly debated for decades. Next generation sequencing technologies in Academy labs have generated unprecedented amounts of genetic information for a thrilling new look at turtles' evolutionary history. These high-tech lab methods revolutionize the way scientists explore species origins and evolutionary relationships, and provide a strong foundation for future looks into Earth's fossil record.
Research results, appearing in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, describe how a new genetic sequencing technique called Ultra Conserved Elements (UCE) reveal turtles' closest relatives across the animal kingdom. The new genetic tree uses an enormous amount of data to refute the notion that turtles are most closely related to lizards and snakes. Instead, authors place turtles in the newly named group "Archelosauria" with their closest relatives: birds, crocodiles, and dinosaurs. Scientists suspect the new group will be the largest group of vertebrates to ever receive a new scientific name.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 26 2014, @03:45AM
Blue-throated Hummingbird
Resting heart rate: 250 beats per minute
Maximum heart rate: 1260 beats per minute
Lifespan: 5 years
Galapagos Tortoise
Resting heart rate: 6 beats per minute
Lifespan: over 100 years (some say up to 200 years)
These creatures are related? Heh.
(BTW, you share 40 percent of your DNA with a banana.)
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday November 26 2014, @03:54AM
Vehemently, I am not!!!
(but it may be that you are watching too much porn)
---
(ducks... lame joke, I know)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by martyb on Wednesday November 26 2014, @03:56AM
/me tries to imagine a Galapagos Tortoise that could fly: flap... wait... wait... wait... wait... wait... flap... wait... wait... wait... crash!
Lifespan while airborne: about 10 seconds. :/
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday November 26 2014, @05:28PM
And i share 100% of my banana with my wife. :)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---