An international team of scientists has unearthed a significant haul of reptile and amphibian fossils in Brazil, dating from 278 million years ago when all the continents were joined together.
The fossils include two new species of "dvinosaur" - extinct cousins of modern salamanders - which were about 40cm long, one of them with fangs and gills.
South America's oldest ever terrestrial reptile skeleton was also in the haul.
The finds are reported in the journal Nature Communications.
The ancient reptile is a lizard-like creature called Captorhinus aguti, previously only found in North America.
These discoveries, all from north-eastern Brazil, are noteworthy because little is known about the plants and animals that occupied this region during the Permian period; the southern tropics of the "supercontinent" Pangaea are not well-populated by fossil finds.READ MORE -BBC LINK-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34733590
No comments:
Post a Comment