France Fossil Reveals 83-Million-Year-Old Lizard, Pushing Pan-Shinisaurs' European Record Back 30 Million Years
Updated
Updated · Sci.News · May 22
France Fossil Reveals 83-Million-Year-Old Lizard, Pushing Pan-Shinisaurs' European Record Back 30 Million Years
1 articles · Updated · Sci.News · May 22
An 83-million-year-old upper jaw from southern France has been identified as Acutodon villeveyracensis, a new pan-shinisaur genus and species described in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
The 2.8-cm maxilla carried a distinctive mix of traits—including tall recurved teeth and resorption pits—close enough to crocodile lizards and their fossil relatives to place it within Pan-Shinisaurus.
Researchers said the Campanian fossil is Europe’s oldest known pan-shinisaur, extending the lineage’s presence on the continent by about 30 million years and complicating its biogeographic history.
Skull-based estimates suggest Acutodon exceeded 1 meter in length and likely hunted fish and other small vertebrates in Villeveyrac’s freshwater floodplain alongside other large squamates.
The find also sharpens interest in the group’s history because its only living member, the Chinese crocodile lizard, survives in just a few hundred wild individuals in China and Vietnam.
How can one small jawbone rewrite 30 million years of lizard evolution and our understanding of prehistoric Europe?
A giant lizard thrived in ancient Europe. Why is its only living relative now facing extinction in Asia?