It had been 20 years since it was discovered. However, one important detail was overlooked. Until now. Recent research has analysed a 230 million year old fossil. And they discovered that it’s the great ancestor of reptiles.
Revised finding
Its scientific name is Taytalura alcoberi. It was found in 2001 in northeastern San Juan province, Argentina. The discovery showed its results in a publication in the magazine Nature.
The skull and jaw of the animal were in a very good state of preservation. The former has large ocular orbits. It is about 2 centimeters long. But the jaw shows teeth in a strange shape, arranged along a canal. Unusual for reptiles.
Thanks to the preservation of the skull in three dimensions, it could be identified. It is the evolutionary ancestor of snakes, iguanas and other species. In life, the specimen measured between 15 and 20 centimeters. It is believed to have been insectivorous.
Dr. Ricardo Martinez is a researcher at the Institute of Natural Sciences of the University of San Juan (IMCN). And lead author of the study published in Nature. He described the skull and jaw of Taytalura. “They reveal the kinship of the animals within the evolutionary history. The skull is complete and practically without deformation. It makes it a truly extraordinary find.
Argentina, cradle of fossils
The oldest ancestor of the group that gave rise to lizards and snakes lived in Argentina. The scientific name Taytalura alcoberi en has a certain meaning. It combines Quechua word tayta -meaning ‘father’-, and lura -the name given to the lizard in the Kakan language. It is native to the Diaguita nation of northeastern Argentina. It includes the term alcoberi by the researcher Oscar Alcober, for the finding.
Argentina has potential for the reconstruction of the evolutionary history of many fossil groups. It is an unimagined reservoir of the evolutionary history of our planet. The great ancestor of reptiles is just one example.
It is the oldest find among the lepidosaurs, a group to which lizards belong. Its fossils are in the Museum of Natural Sciences of the National University of San Juan.
