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Description
Drawing made after learning that a new species of fossil turtle was recently described (in early May 2021). Named Sahonachelys mailakavava, it comes from the Maevarano Formation of Madagascar, which dates to the Maastrichtian at the very end of the Cretaceous period (around 66 million years ago) and has also yielded remains of other animals and dinosaurs. Sahonachelys is a Pelomedusoid turtle, and its closest living relatives would be the African mud terrapins and African helmeted turtle. The shell of this species is around 30 centimeters long, making it a bit of a big turtle. The remains of this turtle are the best-preserved fossil chelonian remains known from Madagascar and show that it had features unique for its kind, enlarged tongue bones and gracile jaws that show adaptations towards suction feeding (and would also have made its face a little like that if a frog). Rather than snapping at food items like most turtles do, this species could probably open its mouth so wide and fast underwater that the water rushing in to fill the void of its mouth would drag nearby small prey into it as well, effectively sucking them in so the turtle can swallow it whole. Such adaptations are not known in any other Pelomedusoids and very few extant turtles, with the snake-necked turtles from Australia being the few examples.

Upon learning of this creature I had instantly decided I wanted to draw it. I had a hard time deciding what to portray it doing though, as I couldn't find much info on fossil fauna from Maevarano that would be suitable prey items to show its suction feeding, and the artwork of it from Andrey Atuchin (seemingly the only reconstruction of it to exist before this) already used Beelzebufo tadpoles as prey and doing the same feels wrong. My sister then suggested I draw a turtle stack, with turtles stacking on top of each other, something we had seen quite many times before in the red-eared sliders living in a pond near our grandmother's house.

So here it is, a drawing showing three Sahonachelys resting on a log in a pond, with one climbing on top of the shells of the other two, 66 million years ago in the late Cretaceous of Madagascar. All the turtles are chill creatures, not minding being climbed on, and the climber also doesn't mind the generic diurnal moth landing on its nose. Also in the picture, a Beelzebufo ampinga, a large frog nicknamed the devil frog, rests in the pond near the log, half submerged in the water and with some algae on its back. Standing on the shell of one Sahonachelys is a Falcatakely forsterae, a bird known for its skull which bears similarities to that of a toucan. And in the woods in the back, the silhouette of a Majungasaurus crenatissimus, a 7-meter long abelisaur dinosaur and the apex predator of the region, can be seen as the theropod stalks the forest for prey.

Also, first Sahonachelys on DA!

Description
Drawing made after learning that a new species of fossil turtle was recently described (in early May 2021). Named Sahonachelys mailakavava, it comes from the Maevarano Formation of Madagascar, which dates to the Maastrichtian at the very end of the Cretaceous period (around 66 million years ago) and has also yielded remains of other animals and dinosaurs. Sahonachelys is a Pelomedusoid turtle, and its closest living relatives would be the African mud terrapins and African helmeted turtle. The shell of this species is around 30 centimeters long, making it a bit of a big turtle. The remains of this turtle are the best-preserved fossil chelonian remains known from Madagascar and show that it had features unique for its kind, enlarged tongue bones and gracile jaws that show adaptations towards suction feeding (and would also have made its face a little like that if a frog). Rather than snapping at food items like most turtles do, this species could probably open its mouth so wide and fast underwater that the water rushing in to fill the void of its mouth would drag nearby small prey into it as well, effectively sucking them in so the turtle can swallow it whole. Such adaptations are not known in any other Pelomedusoids and very few extant turtles, with the snake-necked turtles from Australia being the few examples.

Upon learning of this creature I had instantly decided I wanted to draw it. I had a hard time deciding what to portray it doing though, as I couldn't find much info on fossil fauna from Maevarano that would be suitable prey items to show its suction feeding, and the artwork of it from Andrey Atuchin (seemingly the only reconstruction of it to exist before this) already used Beelzebufo tadpoles as prey and doing the same feels wrong. My sister then suggested I draw a turtle stack, with turtles stacking on top of each other, something we had seen quite many times before in the red-eared sliders living in a pond near our grandmother's house.

So here it is, a drawing showing three Sahonachelys resting on a log in a pond, with one climbing on top of the shells of the other two, 66 million years ago in the late Cretaceous of Madagascar. All the turtles are chill creatures, not minding being climbed on, and the climber also doesn't mind the generic diurnal moth landing on its nose. Also in the picture, a Beelzebufo ampinga, a large frog nicknamed the devil frog, rests in the pond near the log, half submerged in the water and with some algae on its back. Standing on the shell of one Sahonachelys is a Falcatakely forsterae, a bird known for its skull which bears similarities to that of a toucan. And in the woods in the back, the silhouette of a Majungasaurus crenatissimus, a 7-meter long abelisaur dinosaur and the apex predator of the region, can be seen as the theropod stalks the forest for prey.

Also, first Sahonachelys on DA!