Sunday, October 6, 2013

lepidosaurs

Lepidosaurs were reptiles closely related to lizards, snakes and tuatara, and roamed the planet during the Middle Triassic period. The two skull fossils, unearthed in Germany, were dated using a technique known as a ‘molecular clock’ and were found to predate all other lepidosaur records by 12 million years. The fossils are most closely related to the tuatara, a lizard-like reptile endemic to New Zealand and the sole survivors of a group that was once as globally widespread as lizards are today.

Read more: http://bit.ly/1aXT2jk

This skull fossil was found in a mudstone layer at the top of the Untere Graue Mergel of the Lower Keuper, Vellberg, Germany. Scale bar – 1 mm.





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