The phylogenetic relationships of geoemydid turtles from the Eocene Messel Pit Quarry: a first assessment using methods for continuous and discrete characters

A first quantitative analysis of the phylogenetic relationships of geoemydid turtles from the Eocene Messel Pit Quarry, Germany, reveals that their placement remains uncertain. While Bayesian and parsimony analyses performed well, incorporating discrete characters improved parsimony results. The study suggests two potential placements for the Messel fossils: sister to Orlitia borneensis or Geoemyda spengleri, with weak bootstrap support. However, the latter is problematic due to conflicting data on G. spengleri's phylogenetic position. The findings indicate that the Messel geoemydids may not be closely related to the Recent European Mauremys clade, challenging previous hypotheses about their evolutionary relationships.

Ascarrunz, E., Claude, J., & Joyce, W. G. (2021). The phylogenetic relationships of geoemydid turtles from the Eocene Messel Pit Quarry: a first assessment using methods for continuous and discrete characters. PeerJ, 9, e11805. Portico. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.11805