Microraptor's World
Turtle
Ordosemys
While this particular animal lived at the time of Microraptor, turtles evolved at least 230 million years ago,
long before the Liaoning fossil time. Even the earliest turtles, with their
characteristic shells, resembled modern ones. The fossils of Liaoning are of
two kinds: soft-shell turtles related to species living today, and—brace
yourself—nanhsiungchelyids, which Mark Norell notes "have lumpy
shells, huge noses (the largest in turtledom), long tails, and a very
hard-to-pronounce name coined after the locality where these animals were first
found."