The first turtle fossil, Proganochelys, dates to 220-205 million years ago.  Proganochelys looked much the same as turtles do today.  Among other traits it shares with modern turtles, it was nearly toothless, it had a fully developed shell both on top and on bottom, it was low to the ground, its head was roughly the same size as that of a modern turtle, and in all major respects it was a turtle.  However, it could not fully retract its head under its shell.[1]

     Nothing like turtles had ever existed before.  Gould et al described the sudden appearance of turtles as "A whole new reptile order appearing out of nowhere."[2] 

     Lee also acknowledged the lack of a missing link, stating, "Our understanding of chelonian (i.e. – turtle) origins has been restricted by a paucity of information on intermediate forms," yet Lee attempted to explain turtle origins by suggesting that the turtles are descended from the pareiasaurs, a group of large armored plant eating beasts.[3] 

     Turtles and pareiasaurs were very different.  If they were closely related, a theory which is debated, there are still a multitude of missing links between them.  Most obviously, Proganochelys had a shell of bony armor over its back, fused to its ribs, and another plate of armor under its belly.  The pareiasaurs had no such plates of armor.  They did have bony scutes floating under the skin, but these were not fused to the ribs, and were not connected to each other to make a plate.  Proganochelys had very small teeth, but the pareiasaurs had thick long teeth.  In the neck, Proganochelys had four spines per vertebra, two to each side, sticking outward.  Pareiasaurs had only one upper chevron located on the vertebra, not to the side.  Along the torso, the vertebrae of Proganochelys were elongated under the shell.  The pareiasaur vertebrae were not, and they had a different number of vertebrae in the torso than did the turtle.  Proganochelys had no chevrons on the vertebrae of its torso.  Pareiasaurs had such long upper chevrons that they actually stuck out of the skin, making a row of knobby spikes along their backbone.  Proganochelys had a club on its tail, pareiasaurs did not.  The upper chevrons on Proganochelys' tail vertebrae were short.  The pareiasaurs' were long.  The length and number of vertebrae in the tail of Proganochelys was less than that of the pareiasaurs.  These are just a few of the differences between the two.  One thing they did have in common was their descent from the anapsids – reptiles without holes in their skulls.  As such, they are at least distant relatives.

     The close ancestors of the turtles apparently evolved so rapidly that they did not leave any trace in the fossil record.  Yet Proganochelys does not show the markings of intelligent design by a perfect God, for Proganochelys was still an imperfect turtle.  Its tail was long, and it could not retract its head under its shell to escape predators.  Whatever catalyzed the rapid evolution of the turtles, it did so imperfectly.  Natural selection has since tweaked the structure of turtles toward improvement.