Bristol: Fossil shows lizards millions of years older than thought
Source: BBC
Bristol: Fossil shows lizards millions of years older than thought
2 December 2022
A new discovery suggests lizards have existed for 35 million years longer than previously thought.
The University of Bristol took CT scans of fossilised remains of a reptile that sat in a Natural History Museum storage cupboard for decades.
They show the unknown reptile to be closely related to modern-day lizards.
Dr David Whiteside, who led the research, said the fossil was "likely to become one of the most important found in the last few decades".
It was thought lizards originated from the later Middle Jurassic period but the new findings show they lived in the Late Triassic period (237-201 million years ago).
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Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-63832928
Dr Whiteside said the specimen had been simply labelled 'clevosaurus and one other reptile' (Natural History Museum UK)
An artist's impression of cryptovaranoides microlanius (Lavinia Gandolfi)