# Why order Pleurodira didnt have species envole into land or sea dwelling ?



## enchilada (Jul 28, 2014)

*Why order Pleurodira (side necks) didnt have species envole into land or sea dwelling ?*
*one other interested thing i found is, current Pleurodira distribution areas are part of the prehistoric Gondawana supercontinents , which contains todays Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica.*
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*Order Cryptodira are just all over the world today except areas too dry or cold. Also, i think there is no Cryptodira in Australia? (exclude sea turtles) *


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## Star-of-India (Aug 4, 2014)

Were you proposing hypotheses for this or asking for opinions? I don't know enough about side-necks to even speculate on this, but I'm curious about these sort of issues. So why did they not evolve land or sea types?


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## enchilada (Aug 4, 2014)

Star-of-India said:


> Were you proposing hypotheses for this or asking for opinions? I don't know enough about side-necks to even speculate on this, but I'm curious about these sort of issues. So why did they not evolve land or sea types?


i'm asking for opinions. actually, i have more interesting finding. 
there is this extinct genus of turtle lived in Australia until about two thousand years ago. Genus: _*†Meiolania*_
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiolania


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## Madkins007 (Aug 5, 2014)

The side necks are interesting- they are found in what you could call 'historic ranges'- the places turtles developed. I think the body design has a lot of self-limitations. They cannot protect their head or neck well enough to go on land, and the long, relatively weak neck offers no advantage in water. The stronger, easier to protect 'hidden neck' design let the turtles exploit more habitats.


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## enchilada (Aug 5, 2014)

Based on my observation, side necks seems to be more efficient in catching fish than hidden neck turtles .
but you are right, i dont think there is any advantage of this when live on land.
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btw, is there any hidden neck turtles live in South America today other than red/yellow foot, chaco, Galapagos and south american wood turtles?


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