About the TED Project

Turtles from Czechia and Poland: An overview of common evolution in Central Europe since the Triassic until Recent

Project No. 2022/45/P/NZ8/00600 co-funded by the National Science Centre and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 945339.

The main goal of this research is a revision of fossil turtles (Testudinata) from Czechia and Poland. Much historical fossil turtle material from these countries has not been revised in decades and, surprisingly, some specimens even in a century. Progress in the understanding of fossil turtle phylogeny and taxonomy that occurred over the last decades renders many original identifications dubious or invalid.

Even worse, many specimens were published in local, non-English language publications and never figured, which virtually excluded them from the current scientific discourse. Besides historical specimens, new material has been discovered recently and awaits scientific evaluation. Therefore, the actual total diversity of turtles in Central Europe (meaning Czechia and Poland) and its changes since the Mesozoic remain unknown.

Fossil turtles are good indicators of paleoclimatic reconstructions, that provide novel data that allows reconstructing zonation of the environment, the mean annual temperature, and – together with the remaining herpetological fauna – precipitation, as well. However, for proper paleoclimatic reconstructions, proper taxonomic identification is a prerequisite.

The fossil record from Czechia contains Mesozoic and Cenozoic representatives of turtles. For example, Miocene turtles are abundant and high diversity is expected. Similar conditions are preserved in the Polish fossil record, where especially Triassic and Cenozoic deposits are rich. As for now, Czech and Polish biodiversity is more or less similar. Analogous conditions can be expected in the past and a simultaneous study of the Czech and Polish material will allow avoiding taxonomic misidentification and diagnosing specimens in a broader context.

Besides traditional methods, the proposed project will use modern imaging technologies like photogrammetry or 3D surface scanners to obtain the most complete and accurate digital models, which will be shared with the international scientific community.