Plesiosaur Skeleton Confirmed As The
Oldest Ever, By Jonathan O'Callaghan - Σκελετός Πλεσιόσαυρου επιβεβαιώθηκε ως ο παλαιότερος όλων, από τον
Jonathan O'Callaghan
Scientists have discovered the
oldest plesiosaur skeleton, an underwater reptile that swam in Earth’s oceans
201 million years ago.
Described in the journal Science
Advances, researchers from the University of Bonn studied a fossil that was
found in a clay pit back in 2013 in Germany, which had been acquired by a
private collector.
The creature dates back to the
Triassic period 251 to 199 million years ago. It is the only plesiosaur
skeleton that has ever been found from this period.
They were able to reconstruct the
skeleton, finding that this creature was 2.37 meters (7.8 feet) long, although
part of the neck was lost in quarrying. This makes it a relatively small
plesiosaur, and has been given the name Rhaeticosaurus mertensi.
The creature was found to be a
strong swimmer, gliding along with underwater wings rather than pushing water
out of the way with paddles. Their small head was on a long streamlined neck,
and their bodies contained strong muscles to keep the wings moving.
“Compared to the other marine
reptiles, the tail was short because it was only used for steering,” said
paleontologist Professor Martin Sander from the University of Bonn in a
statement. “This evolutionary design was very successful, but curiously it did
not evolve again after the extinction of the plesiosaurs.”
Paleontologists Tanja Wintrich and
Martin Sander from the University of Bonn inspect the skeleton. Yasuhisa
Nakajima
Professor Sander added that when he
heard about the discovery, he “could not believe that there was a plesiosaur
from the Triassic, given that these animals had been studied by paleontologist
for nearly 300 years, and never was there one older than Jurassic.”
Using computed tomography, the researchers
were able to look inside the bones of the animals. They also cut thin sections
for microscopic study.
Based on growth marks in the bones,
they concluded that Rhaeticosaurus was a fast-growing youngster. It’s thought
these animals grew extremely fast before reaching sexual maturity.
This is seen as clear evidence that
plesiosaurs were warm-blooded, as they would have needed to be able to regulate
their body temperature to move into cooler parts of the ocean.
As a result, they became extremely
successful and widespread, until they were wiped out along with the dinosaurs
at the end of the Cretaceous period 66 million years ago, when a meteorite
struck the planet. Together with volcanic eruptions, this likely collapsed
their ecosystem.
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