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Cryptodira:
Cryptodira is the taxonomic suborder of Testudines that includes most living tortoises and turtles. Cryptodira differ from Pleurodira, or side-neck turtles, in that they lower their neck, and pull the head straight back into the shell, instead of folding the neck sideways along the body. Cryptodires evolved primarily through the Jurassic period, and by the end of the Jurassic, had almost completely replaced Pleurodires in the lakes and rivers, while beginning to develop land-based species. |
