An evagination of the cloaca. In Testudines these are hypothesized to function in different physiological roles, primarily in respiration. [ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11479904 http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/UBERON_cjm ]
Term information
Taxon notes: in cryptodires, bursae apparently function primarily in buoyancy control and secondarily in ion transport and nesting, but several pleurodires have been shown recently to use them in aquatic respiration.[PMID:11479904]