Origin of Turtles

Turtles, members of the reptile family, emerge suddenly in the fossil record together with their unique shells. As evolutionist sources put it,  "Unfortunately, the origin of this highly successful order is obscured by the lack of early fossils, although turtles leave more and better fossil remains than do other vertebrates. By the middle of the Triassic Period (about 200,000,000 years ago), turtles were numerous and in possession of basic turtle characteristics. . .  Intermediates between turtles and cotylosaurs, the primitive reptiles from which turtles probably sprang, are entirely lacking." 139

Robert Carroll, an expert on vertebrate paleontology, states that "important transitions and radiations [are] still poorly known."140

139. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, "Turtle--Origin and Evolution."
140. Robert L. Carroll, Patterns and Processes of Vertebrate Evolution, Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp. 296-97.