Swiss study shows turtles have not changed size during evolution

Turtles do not follow the general rule that today’s species are on average larger than their distant ancestors, according to a Swiss-led study.

The tendency of animal groups to increase in body size over evolutionary time is known as Cope’s rule (after the paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope). This rule, however, does not apply to turtles, according to a large-scale study recently published in the scientific journal Ecology and Evolution. Re... More info