Smallest fossil reptile.Smallest fossil reptile Paleontologist Martin Sander has found what may be the smallest known skeleton of an extinct reptile species, he reports in the Feb. 12 SCHIENCE. Measuring 51 millimeters long, or slightly more than 2 inches, this 230-million-year-old member of the Neusticosaurus species reached only 22 percent of the average adult length. Neusticosaurus was an aquatic reptile that frequented warm coastal waters. The skeleton is curled curl v. curled, curl·ing, curls v.tr. 1. To twist (the hair, for example) into ringlets or coils. 2. up and displays many undeveloped features. This indicates that the animal was an embryo embryo (ĕm`brēō), name for the developing young of an animal or plant. In its widest definition, the embryo is the young from the moment of fertilization until it has become structurally complete and able to survive as a separate organism. , which makes it an extremely rare fossil find, says Sander, a paleontologist at Zurich University in Switzerland. The embryo fossil will help detail the growth patterns of Neusticosaurus. In addition, scientists can use the fossil to discern evolutionary relationships between Neusticosaurus and other reptiles reptiles terrestrial or aquatic vertebrates which breathe air through lungs and have a skin covering of horny scales. They are poikilothermic, oviparous or ovoviviparous, and, if they have legs they are short and constructed solely for crawling. . The embryo may fuel the debate over the possibility that some ancient reptile, including some dinosaurs <onlyinclude> This list of dinosaurs is a comprehensive listing of all genera that have ever been included in the superorder Dinosauria, excluding class Aves (birds, both living and those known only from fossils) and purely vernacular terms. , gave birth, to live young. It is believed that most extinct reptiles laid eggs, a process confined con·fine v. con·fined, con·fin·ing, con·fines v.tr. 1. To keep within bounds; restrict: Please confine your remarks to the issues at hand. See Synonyms at limit. to land. But paleontologists have found one species, a fully aquatic propoise-like creature, that gave birth to live young in the water. Sander suggests that Neusticosaurus may also have borne live young because the fossil embryo was found in sediments that were miles offshore, and it is not clear how an egg could be carried that far from land. |
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