A 244-million-year-old fossil from China provides the earliest evidence of an archosauromorph highly adapted to life in water
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Photo source: EvgeniyShkolenko / iStock
Chinese scientists have identified a new reptile species from Yunnan Province that lived about 244 million years ago and was highly adapted to an aquatic environment. Named Austronaga, the fossil provides the earliest known evidence of an almost fully aquatic archosauromorph – the evolutionary group that later gave rise to crocodiles, dinosaurs, pterosaurs and birds, reports China Daily, a partner of TV BRICS.
The study was led by Li Chun, a researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The exceptionally well-preserved fossils were discovered in the Luoping biota and reveal several anatomical features associated with life in water.
Researchers found that Austronaga had significantly longer forelimbs than hindlimbs, while its reduced hindlimbs would have made movement on land difficult. Its enlarged hands and feet contained additional finger and toe bones, with the outermost bones lacking claws and forming flipper-like structures similar to those found in other aquatic reptiles.
A comparison with living and extinct aquatic animals showed that the proportions of Austronaga's limbs fell within the range of species that depend almost entirely on aquatic environments. Wang Wei, the first author of the study, said the findings indicate that the reptile had largely abandoned life on land and was well adapted to swimming.
The fossil also preserves traces of internal organs, including the stomach, liver and intestines. Researchers identified partially digested fish scales in the large intestine, providing evidence that Austronaga fed on fish. Its specialised limbs and diet suggest that it was an active aquatic predator.
The discovery expands scientific understanding of the early evolution of archosauromorphs and pushes evidence of their adaptation to aquatic environments back to around 244 million years ago. It also adds to knowledge of Tanysauria, the reptile group to which Austronaga belongs, which now includes known land-dwelling, semi-aquatic and highly aquatic representatives.
According to the researchers, the fossil offers a rare opportunity to examine the gradual adaptation of reptiles to aquatic environments following the end-Permian mass extinction. The findings could also help scientists investigate how different reptile groups responded to environmental changes and developed similar adaptations for life in water.
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