The discovery of a 240-million-year-old turtle gives light to the deep-rooted, ongoing debate about the turtles' family ancestry. Scientist call it Pappochelys rosinae, but it's commonly known as the "Grandfather Turtle."

Based on their body anatomy, turtles are classified as "diapsids," together with dinosaurs, birds, pterosaurs, lizards, snakes, tuatara and crocodiles. One theory suggests that they are related to dinosaurs and birds because of their DNA.

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Contrary to previous findings, a recent study suggets that turtles are found to be more related to lizards and snakes. 

Dr. Hans-Dieter Sues, senior author of this published study, said that this new discovery may be hard to imagine. However, he pointed out an example by comparing it to snakes, being a large group of lizards without legs. 

This elder turtle was described by scientists as small, physically lizard-like with trunk ribs that were expanded. It's eight inches long and didn't have a shell. 

Hold on, no shell? Then, how can it be a turtle when it doesn't have its most distinct feature? 

Researchers said that they may not have one, but it showed evidence of hard wall bones along the belly with ribs shaped like a "T" yet to fuse into a true shell, NBC News learned.  

The evolution of the turtle shell may have originally developed in reptiles that dwell in the water, according to Sues. It would have been for the protection of the turtles' vital organs and at the same time, it could help with buoyancy control by making the turtles heavier.  

Grandpa turtle, however, showed various growth stages, suggesting that it didn't dwell much in the water. The study revealed that either it only entered the lake often or it lived along the lakeshore, Daily Mail reported. 

Nonetheless, Pappochelys' hard bones on the wall of the abdomen, and the structure of the ribs are still consistent of an aquatic or semi-aquatic habitats. 

More findings reveal that Grandfather Turtle looks less like Eunotosaurus, a 260-million-year-old turtle ancestor found in South Africa, but more like the Odontochelys, a 220-million-year-old elder discovered in China, according to News Discovery.

Dr. Rainer Schoch, from the State Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart, described Pappochelys as the missing link. He said that until now, turtles had never been observed in fossils. 

TagsGrandfather Turtle, Ancestry, turtle, Science, discovery