A Triassic crown squamate

David I Whiteside, Sophie A V Chambi-Trowell, Michael Benton*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)
174 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Mammals, birds, and squamates (lizards, snakes, and relatives) are key living vertebrates, and thus understanding their evolution underpins important questions in biodiversity science. Whereas the origins of mammals and birds are relatively well understood, the roots of squamates have been obscure. Here, we report a modern-type lizard from the Late Triassic of England [202 million years (Ma)], comprising a partial skeleton, skull, and mandibles. It displays at least 15 unique squamate traits and further shares unidentatan and anguimorph apomorphies. The new discovery fixes the origin of crown Squamata as much older than had been thought, and the revised dating shows substantial diversification of modern-type squamates following the Carnian Pluvial Episode, 232 Ma ago.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-18
Number of pages18
JournalScience Advances
Volume8
Issue number48
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Dec 2022

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