🚨🚨 IT'S OUT! Two new Jurassic lizards known from exceptional skulls and braincases refine our understanding of the early evolution of squamates!!! #paleontology #evolution #Science
nature.com/articles/s4146…
In this paper, we describe two new lizards from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation. Presenting Eoscincus ornatus, the ornate dawn skink (left), and Microteras borealis (right), the little monster from the north!
These new lizards fill a critical gap in our understanding of squamates when they were just starting to diversify! The Triassic-Jurassic indeed does preserve squamates, but they are usually pretty crushed, which limits their informativeness...
Our lizards show really odd features you would only be able to see with 3D preservation. For example, Eoscincus has giant teeth on the vomers, which forms part of a complete palatal tooth row on the vomer-palatine-pterygoid!
Despite this, both new species are consistently placed at the base of the clade that includes skinks, girdled, and night lizards! Their phylogenetic position indicates early squamate evolution tracks Pangean breakup:
This study was 2 years in the making, and I couldn't have done it alone. Thank you to my colleagues, department, and museum , @Paleonerd12 @tetaneuron @AnjanBhullar @yale_eeb @yalepeabody ! Study is open-access above!
Also PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE read the supplement! Complete osteology + high quality figures of both species enclosed!!
Also thank you to
@NatureComms @SimonScarpetta and three other reviewers
for the excellent peer review!
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