Ancient 244-Million-Year-Old Fossil Reveals Earliest Reptilian Digestive System
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245-million-year-old reptile fossil preserves the oldest known intact digestive system
A 245-million-year-old reptile fossil from China preserves a nearly complete skeleton and the oldest known largely intact reptile digestive system. Austronaga minuta had fin-like front limbs, a propulsion-driven tail, reduced hind limbs, and a simple stomach, showing its body adapted to ocean life faster than some internal organs. The fossil expands scientists’ view of how early archosaur relatives entered the seas after the end-Permian extincti…
An international research team has examined a single fossil from China that, for the first time, preserves the digestive system of a long-necked marine reptile that lived at sea 245 million years ago. The team that has carried out the research is made up, among others, Stephan N. F. Spiekman, from the State Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart, Germany, Wei Wang, from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology in Beijing, China, and Nick Fraser,…
Ancient 244-Million-Year-Old Fossil Reveals Earliest Reptilian Digestive System
An extraordinarily preserved specimen of Austronaga minuta, a small, long-necked marine reptile from the Triassic era of China, showcases a fossilized stomach, liver, and intestines. This discovery provides paleontologists with their oldest detailed insights into how early reptiles digested food. Life reconstruction of Austronaga minuta. Image credit: Gabriel Ugueto. Austronaga minuta thrived in the Tethys [...] The post Ancient 244-Million-Year…
For decades, paleontologists have used the presence of stones inside the dinosaur skeleton as an indicator that the animal was herbivorous. These stones, known as gastrolytes, have been found in numerous species and were assumed to be used to grind plant material in the stomach, just as many today do [...]
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