And by the late 1940s, this theory became even more specific, suggesting that turtles were related to a particular group of extinct parareptiles called pareiasaurs.

到 20 世纪 40 年代后期， 这一理论变得更加具体，表明海龟与一种特殊的已灭绝的副爬行动物类群有亲缘关系， 这种类爬行动物被称为 pareiasaurs。

So it's not too hard to see why a lot of paleontologists thought that pareiasaurs were closely related to turtles — and were maybe even their direct ancestors.

因此，不难理解为什么许多古生物学家认为翼龙与海龟密切相关——甚至可能是它们的直系祖先。

The idea was that over time, the scutes found in pareiasaurs could have fused into a solid protective layer, eventually combining with the ribs to form a shell.

这个想法是， 随着时间的推移， 在翼龙身上发现的盾片可能已经融合成一个坚固的保护层，最终与肋骨结合形成一个外壳。