BELLAIRSIA GRACILIS

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Context: A study in Nature finds a near-complete skeleton of an early reptile from the Middle Jurassic period of Scotland.

Details:

• The skeleton is of Bellairsia gracilis, a primitive squamate.
• Squamates are a group of reptiles that includes more than 10,000 living species descended from a shared common ancestor that lived 240 MYA.
• The fossil may improve our understanding of the anatomical transformations that led to the establishment of the body plan of reptiles such as modern lizards.
• If the anatomical interpretation is correct, then primitive squamates survived for tens of millions of years after the first lizards and snakes evolved and lived alongside them.

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