One of the most striking features of turtles, both modern and prehistoric alike, are their dorsal shells, forming an armored carapace over the body of the animal. "Odontochelys" only had the bottom portion of a turtle's armor, the plastron. It did not yet have a solid carapace as most other turtles do. Instead of a solid carapace, "Odontochelys" had broadened ribs like those of modern turtle embryos that still have not started developing the ossified plates of a carapace.