Middle Ear Cavity Morphology Is Consistent with an Aquatic Origin for Testudines
Figure 2
Examples of middle ear morphology of extant turtles and tortoises.
Middle ear cavities are in black with skulls in gray. Top row. Lateral view of the left side. Middle row: Dorsal view. Bottom row: Cross section CT images at the level of the middle ear cavity. Species in columns from left to right: Gopherus polyphemus, Chelus fimbriatus, Trachemys scripta elgans, Lepidochelys kempii. Scale bars = 1 cm. R = rostral. C = caudal. D = dorsal. V = ventral. Note that G. Polyphemus was scanned as only a skull.