World’s oldest marine reptile found in the Arctic revolutionizes paleontology

For 190 years, researchers have searched for evidence of the origins of marine reptiles from the age of the dinosaurs (the Mesozoic Era), which was suspected to have occurred just after the end of the Permian period. were the animals involved ichthyosaurs, whose scientific name means “lizard fish”, which dominated the seas as the largest predators 252 million years ago. However, a new discovery has challenged the prevailing theories.

Scientists from Sweden and Norway have been exploring the remote arctic island of Spitsbergen, and have found the oldest ichthyosaur known to mankind. The discovery is described in the scientific journal Current Biology, and involved a great deal of geological development. In the Valley of Flowers, the mountains revealed layers of mudstone that existed at the bottom of the sea 250 million years ago, and with erosion, they revealed large limestone rocks called concrete, capable of Bone preservation in 3D detail.

What we know about ichthyosaurs

Before understanding the amazing nature of the novelty, it is necessary to know what was thought of ichthyosaurs. were among The first creatures to leave land and adapt to life at sea open, an evolution similar to that of modern whales. Theories say that after the Permian period, terrestrial reptiles approached the sea to prey on marine prey that had been left without predators due to the mass extinction at the end of the previous geological period.

Over time, the animals became amphibians through natural selection, becoming more efficient at swimming and developing fins instead of legs, until they were shaped like fish and started giving birth to live young without eggs. Without having to go ashore to lay eggs, they have severed the last link with the mainland, reaching the top of the marine food chain and dominate the seas.

On a 2014 expedition, scientists collected concrete blocks in the Flower Valley and sent them to the Museum of Natural History at the University of Oslo, with support from the Museum of Evolution at Uppsala University. Analytics revealed fish fossils The bones and bones of amphibians are similar to those of crocodiles, as well as the 11 articulated vertebrae of the ichthyosaur’s tail. The surprise is that the rocks that preserved the bones are very old for ichthyosaurs, two million years earlier than expected.

Fossils of Ichthyosaurus Iligan and the Origin of Marine Reptiles (@tweet @tweet @tweet)

Swedish and Norwegian paleontologists have discovered the remains of the first known ichthyosaur, or “lizard-footed,” on the remote Arctic island of Spitsbergen. https://t.co/YN5ebuovWO pic.twitter.com/rQnm4PKYlr

– Fundación Dinosaurios (FDinosaurios) March 14, 2023

A revolution in the evolution of reptiles

Vertebrates are undoubtedly ichthyosaurs, not even ancestors of amphibians, but subject to all the characteristics of animals. Geologically, they are similar to those of large-bodied species, and their preservation has allowed us to study even the delicate internal structures of bones, showing adaptive parameters for rapid growth, high metabolism, and an entirely oceanic lifestyle.

With the rocks dated two million years before the mass extinction at the end of the Permian period, 252 million years ago, the origin and diversification of ichthyosaurs also predates the beginning of the Mesozoic Era. The prevailing view that the age of the dinosaurs was a period of emergence for all lineages of reptiles has been challenged, which indicates that some groups appeared before the geological landmark. Scientists are searching for more ancient rocks with ancient secrets, both in Spitsbergen and around the world.

source: Current Biology

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