This discovery of fossils of a crocodile ancestor dating back 250 to 200 million years challenges scientists.

According to the researchers, this discovery supports that this group of hominins diversified rapidly after the mass extinction at the “end-Permian.”

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Nevada, USA. Researchers have discovered, in the Triassic Favret Formation (a geological formation dating back to the Triassic period, 250 to 200 million years ago), a new species of crocodile ancestor that may have evolved in this geological region during the Mesozoic Era, during the Middle Triassic period (247.2 – 237 million years ago).

Discover this type called Benggwigwishinga suchus eremicarminis, or the false archosaur, Detailed in the scientific journal Biology messages Published on July 10, 2024, it revolutionizes our understanding of marine ecosystems dating back to the Mesozoic period.

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Indeed, many of the fossils discovered near the eastern Panthalassan Ocean from the Triassic (which includes the Favret Formation) are the remains of marine reptiles and other sea creatures, hence the surprise of researchers at this discovery of archosaur fossils.

“We expected to find marine reptiles. We did not understand how a land animal could find itself so far out at sea, among ichthyosaurs and ammonites. It was only when I saw the specimen almost ready that I was convinced that it was indeed a land animal.“This is a very important finding,” Nicole Klein, co-author of the study and professor at the University of Bonn, told pureplayer. Science Technology Daily.

“This exciting new species demonstrates that squills occupied coastal habitats worldwide during the Middle Triassic.“This is a great opportunity to learn more about the dinosaurs and how they interact with each other,” said Dr. Nate Smith, lead author of the paper, and Gretchen Augustine, director and curator of the Dinosaur Institute at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

Archosaurs are divided into two distinct groups.

As Sci Tech Daily points out, “This is the first coastal representative from the Panthalassian Ocean and Western Hemisphere, revealing that crocodile relatives were present in coastal environments worldwide during the Middle Triassic.Other fossils of this species have been discovered on the coasts of the ancient Tethys Ocean. Since these areas did not come from the same evolutionary group, it is likely that hominins independently adapted to life along the coasts.

During this period (the Triassic), archosaurs appeared, called the “dominant reptiles” by definition.Global Encyclopedia It appeared before it split into two distinct groups:

• the birds
• Crocodilians, direct descendants of the pseudoarchosaurs.