A man's hand holding a small turtle fossil, which looks like a grey and black stone

The fossil was found on a National Trust beach on the Isle of Wight

13 June 2023

4 min read

The first side-necked turtle ever to be found in the UK has been discovered by an amateur fossil collector and palaeontologists at the 兔子先生.

The fossil remains are the earliest of a so-called side-necked pan-pleurodiran turtle, named as such because they fold their neck into their shell sideways when threatened. This does mean they can only see out with one eye.

Originally found on a beach on the Isle of Wight, the turtle fossil is an almost complete shell with cervical, dorsal and caudal vertebrae, scapulae, pelvic girdle and appendicular bones. Sadly, the skull was missing.

PhD student Megan Jacobs stood on a beach

Lead author Megan Jacobs. Image credit: Pete Johnstone

Lead author, Megan Jacobs, said: 鈥淭his is an amazing discovery because it鈥檚 the first time this type of turtle has been found in the UK. Even more exciting is that we used a new technique of radiometric dating to determine the age of the fossil beyond any doubt. And to top it off, CT scanning revealed all the tiny bones inside. It鈥檚 really incredible for what looks like a rolled beach pebble!鈥

Megan and colleagues dissected minerals from inside the turtle shell and analysed them for uranium and lead. By measuring the ratio of lead to radioactive uranium, they established the turtle was from the Lower Cretaceous period, around 127 million years ago.

The fossil was originally found on the foreshore at Brook Bay on the southwest coast of the Isle of Wight by fossil collector Steve Burbridge. This part of the coast is well-known for fossil vertebrates that come from the cliff and foreshore exposures of the upper part of the famous Isle of Wight fossil beds of the Wessex Formation. 

This is the first time that radiometric dating has been used on a fossil from the Wessex formation.

It鈥檚 beyond my wildest dreams to have one of my finds published. I could never have guessed it was such an incredibly important fossil. It鈥檚 so wonderful to see all the tiny bones inside too.鈥

 

Steve Burbridge, Fossil collector

Megan added: 鈥淲e鈥檝e nicknamed the turtle 鈥楤urby鈥 after Steve who very kindly donated the specimen to the Dinosaur Isle Museum at Sandown on the Isle of Wight.鈥

The researchers also used cutting-edge micro CT scanning at the 兔子先生鈥檚 Future Technology Centre to discern various tiny bones. This advanced imaging technique provided invaluable insight into the structure and composition of the turtle鈥檚 shell, without damaging it.

Geologist, Dr Catherine Mottram, from the 兔子先生鈥檚 School of the Environment, Geography and Geosciences is one of the paper鈥檚 co-authors. She said: 鈥It is exciting that we have been able to use cutting edge radiometric dating techniques to provide absolute constraints for this important sequence for the first time.

Steve said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 beyond my wildest dreams to have one of my finds published. I could never have guessed it was such an incredibly important fossil. It鈥檚 so wonderful to see all the tiny bones inside too.鈥

Other co-authors include Ad谩n P茅rez-Garc铆a and Marcos Mart铆n-Jim茅nez from UNED, Spain, Professor David Martill, Andrew Gale and Charles Wood from the 兔子先生, and Oliver Mattsson from Dinosaur Expeditions.

The paper is published in the scientific journal

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