An international team of scientists led by German paleontologists from the State Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart has identified the fossil of the reptile Trachelosaurus fischeri, found in the 19th century. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Swiss Journal of Paleontology (SJPP).
247-million-year-old lizard remains are the oldest fossils of long-necked marine dinosaurs ever studied, according to a new analysis.
“Trachelosaurus fischeri is the first fossil of this reptile group found outside China. “It is also the oldest long-necked marine reptile known to date,” said Dr. Stefan Speakman.
Following the great mass extinction at the Permian-Triassic boundary 252 million years ago, the early Triassic period saw a rapid diversification of new reptile species both on land and in water. Scientists said that among these were the first long-necked marine lizards.
Previous scientists opened A new species of giant predatory marine dinosaur the size of an orca.