KRENZ, J.G.*; JANZEN, F.J.: Turtle Phylogeny: Insights from a Nuclear Gene

Turtles have a long and successful evolutionary history, dating back over 200 million years. Relationships among many extant turtle families remain unclear, despite a large data set containing morphological characters as well as DNA sequences from the mitochondrial cytochrome b and 12S ribosomal DNA genes. DNA sequence data from a single copy nuclear gene, RAG-1, yields new insights into turtle evolution. Results of separate analyses as well as total evidence analysis are discussed.