KUNA ugunduzi mpya wa mabaki ya mjusi mkubwa ambaye anaaminika kwamba aliishi duniani kiasi cha miaka milioni 250 iliyopita. Ugunduzi huo...
KUNA ugunduzi mpya wa mabaki ya mjusi mkubwa ambaye anaaminika kwamba aliishi duniani kiasi cha miaka milioni 250 iliyopita.
Ugunduzi huo uliotokea Brazil umeelezwa kuwa unatoa mwanga namna ambavyo maisha yalivyokuwa kabla ya kutokea kwa mijusi ya sasa.
Inaaminika kwamba wakati mjusi huyo mkubwa anatokea kilikuwa kipindi ambacho dunia ilianza kupona baada ya uharibifu mkubwa katika viumbe vyake.
Mjusi huyo ambaye alibatizwa jina la Teyujagua yu karibu na jamii ya sasa ya mamba na ndege.
Mmoja wa watafiti Dk Richard Butler kutoka Chuo Kikuu cha Birmingham amesema kwamba ugunduzi huo ni mpya na ambao haujawahi kutokea ambao unatoa mwanga mkubwa wa aina ya mijusi ya awali.
"It's very close to the ancestry of a very important group of reptiles called archosauriforms," the co-researcher on the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, told BBC News.
"It helps us understand how that group evolved."
'Beautiful skull'
Teyujagua paradoxa was a small crocodile-like animal that probably lived at the side of lakes, feeding on fish.
The ancient reptile lived just after a mass extinction event 252 million years ago that was thought to have been triggered by a string of volcanic eruptions.
About 90% of living species were lost, creating a niche for other animals, such as Teyujagua, to flourish.
The reptile - and its close relatives the archosauriforms - became the dominant animals on land and eventually gave rise to the dinosaurs.
Dr Felipe Pinheiro, from Universidade Federal do Pampa, São Gabriel, Rio Grande do Sul, is among the scientists from three Brazilian universities who discovered the well-preserved fossil skull near the southern city of São Francisco de Assis.
"The discovery of Teyujagua was really exciting," he said.
"Ever since we saw that beautiful skull for the first time in the field, still mostly covered by rock, we knew we had something extraordinary in our hands.
"Back in the lab, after slowly exposing the bones, the fossil exceeded our expectations.
"It had a combination of features never seen before, indicating the unique position of Teyujagua in the evolutionary tree of an important group of vertebrates."
Teyujagua is different from other fossils from the same era.
Its anatomy is somewhere between that of more primitive reptiles and the archosauriforms, which include all dinosaurs and pterosaurs (flying reptiles), along with modern day birds and crocodiles.
Ugunduzi huo uliotokea Brazil umeelezwa kuwa unatoa mwanga namna ambavyo maisha yalivyokuwa kabla ya kutokea kwa mijusi ya sasa.
Inaaminika kwamba wakati mjusi huyo mkubwa anatokea kilikuwa kipindi ambacho dunia ilianza kupona baada ya uharibifu mkubwa katika viumbe vyake.
Mjusi huyo ambaye alibatizwa jina la Teyujagua yu karibu na jamii ya sasa ya mamba na ndege.
Mmoja wa watafiti Dk Richard Butler kutoka Chuo Kikuu cha Birmingham amesema kwamba ugunduzi huo ni mpya na ambao haujawahi kutokea ambao unatoa mwanga mkubwa wa aina ya mijusi ya awali.
"It's very close to the ancestry of a very important group of reptiles called archosauriforms," the co-researcher on the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, told BBC News.
"It helps us understand how that group evolved."
'Beautiful skull'
Teyujagua paradoxa was a small crocodile-like animal that probably lived at the side of lakes, feeding on fish.
The ancient reptile lived just after a mass extinction event 252 million years ago that was thought to have been triggered by a string of volcanic eruptions.
About 90% of living species were lost, creating a niche for other animals, such as Teyujagua, to flourish.
The reptile - and its close relatives the archosauriforms - became the dominant animals on land and eventually gave rise to the dinosaurs.
Dr Felipe Pinheiro, from Universidade Federal do Pampa, São Gabriel, Rio Grande do Sul, is among the scientists from three Brazilian universities who discovered the well-preserved fossil skull near the southern city of São Francisco de Assis.
"The discovery of Teyujagua was really exciting," he said.
"Ever since we saw that beautiful skull for the first time in the field, still mostly covered by rock, we knew we had something extraordinary in our hands.
"Back in the lab, after slowly exposing the bones, the fossil exceeded our expectations.
"It had a combination of features never seen before, indicating the unique position of Teyujagua in the evolutionary tree of an important group of vertebrates."
Teyujagua is different from other fossils from the same era.
Its anatomy is somewhere between that of more primitive reptiles and the archosauriforms, which include all dinosaurs and pterosaurs (flying reptiles), along with modern day birds and crocodiles.
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