Ancient ocean quirk left us these bizarre fossils
This included a round of CT scans at Seattle Children’s Hospital to narrow down the fossil’s location within a larger section of rock and a second round at the American Museum of Natural History to digitally reconstruct the skull anatomy. Researchers came to these conclusions after meticulous study of both Egg Mountain specimens over four years. Today, iguanians include chameleons of the Old World, iguanas, and anoles in the American tropics, and even the infamous water-walking basilisk-or “Jesus Christ”-lizards.īut based on its anatomy, Magnuviator was at best a distant relative of these modern lizard families, most of which did not arise until after the non-avian dinosaurs-and quite a few lizards and other creatures-went extinct 66 million years ago. Distant relativeīased on analyses of the nearly complete fossil skeletons, Magnuviator was an ancient offshoot of iguanian lizards-and they’re actually the oldest, most complete iguanian fossils from the Americas. The findings appear in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Right out of the gate, the new species-dubbed Magnuviator ovimonsensis-is reshaping how scientists view lizards, their biodiversity, and their role in complex ecosystems during this reptile’s carefree days in the Cretaceous Period 75 million years ago. (Credit: Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture) Close-up view of the holotype specimen of Magnuviator ovimonsensis (left) and a sketch (right) with key bones labeled. “But, in fact, we had two specimens, both from the same site at Egg Mountain in Montana.” The second specimen of Magnuviator ovimonsensis found at Egg Mountain. “It is incredibly rare to find one complete fossil skeleton from a relatively small creature like this lizard,” says lead author David DeMar, a postdoctoral research associate in the University of Washington’s biology department and the Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture. They say the ancient lizard, which lived 75 million years ago in a dinosaur nesting site, fills in significant gaps in our understanding of how lizards evolved and spread during the dinosaur era.
Paleontologists picking through a bounty of fossils from Montana have discovered something unexpected-a new species of lizard from the late dinosaur era, whose closest relatives roamed in faraway Asia.
0 kommentar(er)
