Tuataras May Have Originated as Early as 190 Million Years Ago

[Oxytropidoceras]

Tuataras May Have Originated as Early as 190 Million Years Ago

Enrico de Lazaro, SciNews, March 4, 2022

 

The open access paper is:

 

Simões, T.R., Kinney-Broderick, G. and Pierce, S.E., 2022. An

exceptionally preserved Sphenodon-like sphenodontian reveals

deep time conservation of the tuatara skeleton and ontogeny.

Communications biology, 5(1), pp.1-19.

 

Yours,

 

Paul H.

[doushantuo]

thx

Ben

[HynerpetonHunter]

Wow! I'm interested....

 

[DD1991]

The paper describing Navajosphenodon recovers a number of opisthodont sphenodontians within Sphenodontidae, forming a clade exclusive to the one comprising the extant tuatara and Navajosphenodon (called Sphenodontinae), so the placement of Opisthodontia within Sphenodontidae fills in some chronological gaps regarding the evolution of Sphenodontidae during the Mesozoic, because Sphenotitan from the Late Triassic of Argentina is recovered as a sphenodontid.