110-million-year-old sea turtle fossils discovered

ADELAIDE - Fossils of some of the earliest species of sea turtle, believed to be 110-million-years-old have been discovered in Queensland's far west.

Scientists said the fossils, found at Boulia, 300km south of Mount Isa late last year would provide an insight into how sea turtles have survived relatively unchanged despite climate change.

"For all intents and purposes, if you were to see one (fossil) they would look basically the same as sea turtles do today," South Australian Museum palaeontologist Ben Kear said.

"Sea turtles have hit on the winning design and they've stuck to it, they've cracked the winning code, as it were, and it's enabled them to survive when other creatures haven't.

"They're one of the success stories of marine evolution -- if you think about the marine animals that became extinct, well why did sea turtles survive? That's the sort of questions we can look at now."

Dr Kear said a single sea turtle skeleton, believed to be 115-million-years-old, was discovered in Brazil in 1998.

He said the Queensland discovery was exciting because it involved about 12 individual turtle fossils, ranging from fragmented skeletons to a skeleton with only the flippers missing.

The fossils were initially discovered by brothers John and Richard Suter, from Boulia's Stonehouse Museum, but were now housed at the SA Museum for further research.

"Basically we're only starting the research in earnest now," Dr Kear said.

"We're looking at things like diets, for example. We've got a specimen of the gut contents.

"What are sea turtles related to? Are they threatened by things like climate change?

"We know next to nothing now so it's all new science and that's the beauty of it.

"We're just beginning to find out the basics and build information on the really big picture stuff."

Dr Kear said scientists would return to Boulia in May to continue excavations.

- AAP