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Researchers from the University of Bristol have discovered that ancient reptiles with the ability to glide once lived in the Mendip Hills in Somerset. These creatures, known as
Researchers from the University of Bristol have discovered that ancient reptiles with the ability to glide once lived in the Mendip Hills in Somerset. These creatures, known as cuneosaurs, looked like lizards but were actually more closely related to the ancestors of crocodiles and dinosaurs. They were small in size, small enough to fit comfortably in a human hand. Two different species of cuneosaurs have been identified: One with long wing-like structures and the other with shorter ones. These “wings” consisted of a layer of skin stretched over elongated lateral ribs, allowing them to glide from one tree to another.
Like a modern flying lizard Draco Those from Southeast Asia probably crawled on the ground and climbed trees in search of insect prey. When they were surprised or saw a tasty insect flying by, they could take off and land safely 10 meters away.
The discovery was made by University of Bristol graduate student Mike Cawthorne while examining numerous reptile fossils in limestone quarries that formed the largest subtropical island at the time, called Mendip Palaeoisland.
A published study Proceedings of the Association of Geologistsalso records the existence of reptiles with complex teeth (Trilophosaurus) variodens and water pachystropheusIt probably lived like modern otters, eating shrimp and small fish.
The animals either died or their bones were dragged into caves and cracks in the limestone.
“All the animals were small,” Mike said. “I was hoping to find dinosaur bones and even teeth, but I actually found everything but dinosaurs.
“The collections I studied were made in the 1940s and 1950s, when quarries were still active and paleontologists could visit quarries and see and talk to fresh rocks.”
Professor Mike Benton, Bristol School of Earth Sciences, explained: “It has taken a lot of work to identify fossil bones, many of which are isolated and not within a skeleton.
“But we have a wealth of comparative material and Mike Cawthorne was able to compare individual jaws and other bones with more complete specimens from other sites around Bristol. The approximately 30km-long Mendip Paleo Island, stretching from Frome in the east to Weston-super-Mare in the west, “It showed that it hosted a variety of small reptiles that fed on plants and insects. He didn’t find any dinosaur bones, but they were probably there because we’ve found dinosaur bones elsewhere from the same geological age around Bristol.”
In the Late Triassic, 200 million years ago, the region around Bristol was an archipelago of small islands in a warm subtropical sea.
Dr. from Bristol. David Whiteside added: “The bones were collected by many major fossil hunters in the 1940s and 1950s, including Tom Fry, an amateur collector based at the University of Bristol who set out by bicycle and returned laden with heavy sacks of stone.
“Among other collectors, World War II. There were talented researchers Walter Kuehne, a German interned in Great Britain during World War II, and Pamela L. Robinson of University College London. They donated their specimens to the Natural History Museum in London and the geological collection of the University of Bristol.’
Source: Port Altele
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