Published:
4 ago 2024 06:58 GMT
The specimen, named ‘Cornualbus primus’, measured approximately 30 centimetres, was a burrowing herbivore and probably had nocturnal habits.
An unpublished fossil discovered by paleontologists from the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) was presented on Wednesday at the Gama D’Eça Educational Museum in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, where it will remain on display until December, according to a statement published by UFSM.
The text indicates that the specimen, called ‘Cornualbus primus’, was a parareptile – a group of animals that have the same evolutionary lineage as reptiles – measured approximately 30 centimeters, was a burrowing herbivore and probably had nocturnal habits.
It also details that the fossil in question, which was found in 2017 in the Santa María geological formation, belongs to the group of procolophonids, which were similar to lizards and were among the last survivors of the parareptilian in it Triassic periodThat had place does in between 250 and 200 million years.
“This article is the result of a lot of work and time dedicated, as well as challenges such as thinking that things will not turn out well or that it is not relevant enough. But arriving today and seeing the museum auditorium full gives me the certainty that it has been worth it,” said Eduardo Silva Neves, who has dedicated himself to studying the new species.
