Turtles and tortoises (chelonians) have been integral components of global ecosystems for
about 220 million years and have played important roles in human culture for at least …

Large herbivores play unique ecological roles and are disproportionately imperiled by
human activity. As many wild populations dwindle towards extinction, and as interest grows …

Of the 356 species of turtles worldwide, approximately 61% are threatened or already
extinct. Turtles are among the most threatened of the major groups of vertebrates, in general …

Living turtles are characterized by extraordinarily low species diversity given their age. The
clade's extensive fossil record indicates that climate and biogeography may have played …

We present a review and analysis of the conservation status and International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN) threat categories of all 360 currently recognized species of …

Acoustic communication, broadly distributed along the vertebrate phylogeny, plays a
fundamental role in parental care, mate attraction and various other behaviours. Despite its …

Over the last 25 years, researchers, mostly paleontologists, have developed a system of
rank-free, phylogenetically defined names for the primary clades of turtles. As these names …

Molecular analyses of turtle relationships have overturned prevailing morphological
hypotheses and prompted the development of a new taxonomy. Here we provide the first …

Understanding the evolutionary history of diversifying lineages and the delineation of
evolutionarily significant units and species remains major challenges for evolutionary …

Brazil has a variety of aquatic ecosystems and rich freshwater biodiversity, but these
components have been constantly damaged by the expansion of unsustainable activities …