Largest ever European turtle from 80 million years ago as big as Great White shark found

While members of the local museum, as well as the Catalonian Department of Culture, collected the bones from the site, it was not until they were studied several years later that the staggering size of the ancient turtle became evident. 

Dr Angel Lujan, of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and corresponding author of a study published in the journal Scientific Reports: “These findings indicate that gigantism in marine turtles developed independently in different lineages in both North America and Europe.” Spain. They found a fragmented but near-complete pelvis and parts of the upper shell, or carapace.

“Judging by the remains, the experts suspect the huge creature measured about twelve feet long and weighed about two tons. The remains of the newly found species date to the Campanian Age, between 83.6 to 72.1 million years ago. 

“The ancient creature has been given the name Leviathanochelys aenigmatica, and it is the biggest marine turtle ever to be discovered in Europe. However there is one type of marine turtle even bigger than this one – the Archelon, which lived around the ancient North American continent. The large body size could have evolved as a response to the unique habitat conditions of the European Cretaceous archipelago seas.”

Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1699551/animal-news-largest-euoprean-turtle-spain-great-white-shark