Scientists have discovered a 50-million-year-old sea turtle fossil, Syriemys lelunensis, in Syria. Near the Syrian city of Afrin, an international team of scientists composed of members of the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment at the University of Tübingen has discovered the fossil of a previously unknown species of sea turtle. The species, led by the University of São Paulo and named "Syriemys lelunensis," dates back to the early Eocene epoch, about 50 million years ago.

Carapace of Syriemys lelunensis: The genus name combines the Greek words Συρία (Suría) and ἐμύς (emús), meaning "Syria" and "tortoise." Photo credit: Wafa Adel Alhalabi

The find includes a fully preserved cast of the shell, as well as parts of the plastron, pelvis and hind limbs. This is the first officially described vertebrate fossil species from Syria. The fossil carapace is oval in shape and well preserved, 53 cm long and 44 cm wide.

"These Eocene skeletal fragments were discovered in 2010 during blasting at the Al-Zarefeh quarry near Afrin and have been stored in the offices of the General Directorate of Geology and Mineral Resources in Aleppo for 13 years," explains Wafa Adel Alhalabi, a Syrian-Brazilian paleontologist at the University of São Paulo in Brazil and the lead author of the study. She added: "Together with colleagues from Brazil, Syria, Germany, Lebanon and Canada, we are now finally able to provide a scientific description of this animal."

The species, Syriemys lelunensis, is the first and only fossil vertebrate officially described from Syria to date. The discovery also provides the earliest known evidence of the Stereogenyini, an extinct group of side-necked turtles that evolved more than 10 million years earlier.

The fossil material includes a fully preserved cast of the carapace's interior, as well as parts of the ventral shell, pelvic bones and hind limbs - some of which were incorporated into the cast itself. To determine the age of the fossils, the researchers analyzed tiny foraminifera extracted from surrounding rocks.

"These shelled protozoa are crucial in determining the age of turtle fossils," Alhalabi noted.

Wafa Adel Alhalabi studies a newly discovered sea turtle species. Photo credit: Wafa Adel Alhalabi

"Today, all members of the side-necked turtle family are semi-aquatic freshwater turtles. However, the now-extinct side-necked turtles also inhabited saltwater environments. Therefore, their fossils are found all over the world: South America, North America, the Caribbean, Africa and East Asia," explains Dr. Gabriel S. Ferreira of the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironmental Research at the University of Tübingen.

Present-day Syria was covered by sea water throughout the Cretaceous period until the late Miocene (i.e., 145 million years ago to about 5.3 million years ago). Given such a rich maritime history, finding sea turtles there was no surprise to Ferreira. "However, the discovery of Syriemys lelunensis adds a new geographical location to the Stereogenyini's distribution - and there are clear indications that this group of turtles may have originated in the Mediterranean."

"The current situation in Syria is extremely complex, and talking about fossils seems a little unreal given the tragedy that is happening there. But at the same time, the publication of this discovery highlights the potential of this country and the fact that science is still active there," stresses senior author Professor Max Lange, head of the Palaeontology Laboratory at the University of Brazil.

The research team plans to continue their work with a series of articles titled "Chasing Syria's Lost Time." This series of articles is based on material observed by Rabbi Allah in person and recorded through photography. “The title is meant to represent not only Syria’s geological history, but also a period of scientific stagnation in Syria,” Ferreira concluded.

Compiled from /ScitechDaily