Shield for the ventral and dorsal parts of turtles, tortoises and terrapins
9 statements · 11% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations
5 identifiers linking turtle shell across the web's reference databases
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0
The turtle shell is a shield for turtles, completely enclosing all the turtle's vital organs and in some cases even the head. It comprises an upper part, the carapace, and lower part, the plastron, connected by a bony bridge. It is constructed of modified bony elements such as the ribs, parts of the pelvis, and other bones found in most reptiles. The bone of the shell consists of both skeletal and dermal bone, showing that the complete enclosure of the shell likely evolved by including dermal armor into the rib cage.