Fossil of new species of lizard discovered

Fossil  of new species of lizard discovered

The new species was named "Arcanosaurus Ibericus" or "Iberian mysterious reptile," since the research was conducted on 29 vertebrae found in the 1990s and situated in the Spanish province of Burgos (north) as "unrated jewels."

From 125 million years ago, it is the oldest example of the terrestrial lizard group "varanoideos."

The new species was named "Arcanosaurus Ibericus" or "Iberian mysterious reptile," since the research was conducted on 29 vertebrae found in the 1990s and situated in the Spanish province of Burgos (north) as "unrated jewels."

The recovered fossil was from dinosaur sites in the town of Salas de los Infantes, as reported by the director of the Dinosaur Museum in this town, Fidel Torcida.

At a press conference, accompanied by the international team that participated in the research, published in the Cretaceous Research Journal, he explained that it is the oldest example of the terrestrial lizard group "varanoideos," which includes, among the best known, the so-called "Komodo dragon" of the Indonesian island of that name.

The research was done by an international team from Alexandra Houssaye, University of Bonn (Germany), Jean-Claude Rage and Nathalie Bardet, the National Museum of Natural History in Paris; Xavier Pereda, University of the Basque Country and the PaleoarqueolóGico Collective of Salas de los Infantes.

The new species was named as "Arcanosaurus ibericus" or "Iberian mysterious reptile," since the research was conducted from 29 vertebrae that were found and that were donated to the Dinosaur Museum, Salas de los Infantes.  They have remained "unrated jewels" waiting to be studied, according to Torcida.

Nathalie Bardet said vertebrae belonging to an animal of five feet show a combination of characteristics not found in other "varanoideos" species plus its microanatomical study demonstrated no adaptations to aquatic life, so it is classified as a land creature.

Pereda Xavier stressed the discovery of this new species in the temporal Cretaceous  context, 125 million years ago, and that the discovery can continue making progress in the description of the ecosystem in which they lived at the time of the dinosaurs.

The study concludes that "much work remains to be done," and therefore, the remains found at sites such as those inventoried are not precluded from new species being discovered in Salas de los Infantes.

teleSUR-



Translated from the Spanish version by:

Lisa Karpova
Pravda.Ru