Brazilian scientists have announced the discovery of one of the world’s oldest fossils, which in theory belongs to a reptile that lived about 237 million years ago and could explain the rise of the dinosaurs.
Called “Gondwanax paraisensis”, the quadrupedal reptile was practically the size of a small dog with a long tail, about a meter long and weighed between 3 and 6 kilograms, according to the press release announcing the discovery, released on Monday.
The small reptile probably roamed the lands that are now southern Brazil, at a time when the world was much warmer.
The fossil was identified as a new silesaurid, an extinct group of reptiles. Paleontologists debate whether they were true dinosaurs or precursors to the creatures that once dominated the planet.
“Understanding the characteristics of these precursors sheds light on what was crucial to the evolutionary success of dinosaurs,” the statement reads.
Found in a rock layer from the Triassic period, between 252 and 201 million years ago, the fossil of “Gondwanax paraisensis” dates back to the time when dinosaurs, but also mammals, crocodiles, turtles and frogs appeared.
In 2014, nephrologist Pedro Lucas Porcela Aurélio found the fossil in the city of Paraíso do Sul, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. He donated it in 2021 to a local university, which began three years of study.
“You touch it like this, the first human hands that touched 237 million years ago. This is extraordinary. If there is no way to define it, it is an indefinable emotion,” he said, who says he was interested in paleontology since he was a child. little.
The discovery was detailed in an article by paleontologist Rodrigo Temp Müller, of the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), published last month in the scientific journal Gondwana Research.
“So because it’s so old, it gives us clues about how dinosaurs came to be. So, the most important thing, the most interesting part of this discovery is its age,” he said in an interview.
He added that the remains were covered by a thick layer of rock when they were donated by Aurélio and initially only parts of the vertebrae were visible.
Gondwanax means “lord of Gondwana”, which refers to the lands in the southern region of the supercontinent Pangea, which existed before the separation of the continents. Paraisensis is a tribute to the city of Paraíso do Sul.
Source: Terra
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