The latest special issue of The Anatomical Record celebrates the turtle and brings together a collection of papers initially presented at the 2021 Turtle Evolution Symposium (TES).

As noted in the issue’s Editorial by Heather Smith and Jeffrey Laitman, this special issue has been expertly guest edited by two giants in the field of turtle paleontology, Drs. Juliana Sterli and Evangelos Vlachos.

Sterli is a researcher from the Argentinean Council of Research (CONICET) at Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio in Trelew, Argentina. Her research focuses on the early evolution of turtles, specifically their anatomy and phylogeny, especially stem turtles, meiolaniforms (horned turtles), and pan-chelids.

Vlachos is a Greek-Argentine paleontologist, who is also currently a researcher at CONICET and Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio. His research focuses on the evolution of testudinids and on the diversity and extinction events of turtles both within South America and at a global scale.

Not only are Sterli and Vlachos experts on turtle paleontology, but they’re also great and adaptable organizers. The 2021 TES conference (which was sponsored by The Anatomical Record) was scheduled to be held in Argentina but had to be converted to a virtual option due to COVID.

Despite a global pandemic, Sterli and Vlachos developed an interactive conference platform and engaged with local school children to include educational outreach activities about fossil turtles. “The conference was a tremendous success with participants from 25 countries, and the resulting volume is phenomenal with high-impact papers from turtle researchers from around the world on topics ranging from the turtle fossil record to the anatomy of living turtles,” Smith said.

Anatomy Now asked Sterli and Vlachos to provide some more insight on the AR special issue and the wonderful world of turtles. Here are their responses.

Q: Tell our readers a bit about your background.

A: Our research group, "yatachelys" (from the word yataché which means "turtle" in the indigenous language of the Mapuche) tries to study the evolution of turtles from a multidisciplinary point of view. The leader of the group, Juliana Sterli, studied biology at the University of La Plata, in Argentina, and made her Ph.D. thesis on the early evolution of turtles in the San Rafael Museum, in Mendoza. Evan Vlachos studied geology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and made his Ph.D. thesis on the fossil turtles and tortoises of Greece.

We are currently working in Patagonia, at the Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio of Trelew, together with a series of collaborators here and at the distance. Our goal is to study Patagonian turtles and tortoises, within the South American and global context. We perform excavations and campaigns that allow us to conduct original research, with strong anatomical and phylogenetic components.

Q: How did you two meet and work together on this issue?

A: As it so happens, we met during another Turtle Evolution Symposium, back in 2012 in Tübingen, Germany. There we started discussing some ideas for future research projects and collaborations. Nine years later, we share not only a lab and an office but also a life together! So, working together on this special issue has been quite easy and fun. We divided the manuscripts according to our specialties. Juliana dealt more with manuscripts on early turtles and pleurodires (i.e., side-necked turtles), whereas Evan took care of manuscripts dealing with cryptodires (i.e., hidden-necked turtles).

Q: Why turtles? What makes them so special from an anatomical perspective?

A: Turtles are special vertebrates because of their main feature: the presence of a carapace surrounding their body. The presence of a carapace implies many changes in the body plan, anatomy, and physiology of a turtle, making them unique among vertebrates. Although the carapace is present since the earliest turtles in the Late Triassic and they are recognized as such since those times, the carapace has experienced multiple changes in the different lineages of turtles. Some clades have reduced the number of bony plates forming the carapace (e.g., trionychids, kinosternids), some others have thick shells (like most testudinids), while others have very thin shells (like Malacochersus), and even in some lineages the bony plates were replaced by tiny ossicles (dermochelyids). The origin of the shell, its development, and its homology with other structures in amniotes are among the most fascinating topics in turtle evolution.

Q: What did you find most surprising while putting this special issue together?

A: Although not surprising for us as we are quite familiar with almost the entire turtle community, it was inspiring to be able to demonstrate in this special issue the diversity of topics and studies that are going on around the world. Almost as diverse as turtles themselves. You can read about embryological studies, histology, models, pure anatomical analyses, paleontological novelties, archaeological findings, application of new imaging techniques, historical perspectives, and "new" and "old" species. Our colleagues responded amazingly to our call, even though we had to organize the meeting virtually because of the pandemic. We are happy that different generations of scientists are represented herein, from different continents of the world, showing the growing scientific interest in the evolution of turtles.

Q: What do you hope the readers of this AR special issue take away from the journal?

A: Maybe turtles are not as "fancy" as dinosaurs or crocodiles, however, our community is very active and passionate. The possibility of having a special issue all about turtles in such an important, high-impact journal, is enormous. We hope, and we can already see the results, that the high-quality work done by our community can reach a broader audience. Maybe in the future, turtles will be the new dinosaurs ;)

Q: What would you like your fellow anatomists to know about getting published and working on The Anatomical Record?

A: We both had previous editorial experience with peer-reviewed journals, but with the help of Heather Smith and the rest of the team of The Anatomical Record that took care of so many tasks, we have been able to focus on the "turtle-stuff.” In the entire process, you can find all that you would expect from a modern peer-reviewed journal, but it has been a pleasure to find out that you also get a more personal, human, treatment by the team. They take care of stuff that you should not so that you can focus on your science.

Also, we as editors--but also many of our contributors--appreciated several benefits like free-format submissions as well as how The Anatomical Record emphasizes transparency, ethics, diversity, and representation.