Scientists of Brazil announced the discovery of one of the fossils oldest in the world, believed to belong to an ancient reptile from about 237 million years ago that could help explain the appearance of dinosaurs.
Named Gondwanax paraisensisthis species of quadruped reptile was approximately the size of a small dog with a long tail, that is, about 1 meter long and weighed between 3 and 6 kilos, the scientists reported in a statement on Monday.
The small reptile would probably have wandered through what is now southern Brazil, when the world was much warmer.
The fossil has been identified as a new silesaurid, an extinct group of reptiles. Paleontologists debate whether silesaurids were true dinosaurs or possibly a precursor to the creatures that once dominated the Earth.
“Understanding the characteristics of these precursors could shed light on what was crucial to the evolutionary success of dinosaurs,” the statement said.
Unearthed in a rock layer dating from the Triassic periodbetween 252 million and 201 million years ago, the Gondwanax paraisensis fossil comes from the time when dinosaurs, as well as mammals, crocodiles, turtles and frogs, first emerged.
In 2014, doctor Pedro Lucas Porcela Aurelio found the fossil in the town of Paraíso do Sul, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in the extreme south of Brazil. He donated it to a local university in 2021, kicking off three years of research.
“Being the first human to touch something from ago 237 million years is extraordinary“Aurelio told Reuters. “It’s an indescribable feeling,” said the self-proclaimed fan of paleontology since childhood.
The discovery is detailed in an article by paleontologist Rodrigo Temp Müller published at the end of last month in the scientific journal Gondwana Research.
“The most important thing about this find is its age,” Müller said in an interview. “Being so old, it gives us clues about how dinosaurs emerged.”
He added that the rThese were covered by a thick layer of rock when they were donated by Aurelio and initially only parts of the vertebrae were visible.
Gondwanax means “lord of Gondwana”referring to the Gondwana landmass in the southern region of the supercontinent Pangea before the continents separated, while paraisensis honors the city of Paraíso do Sul.
