Science

Tiny Triassic critter provides new insight into the evolution of other ancient reptiles

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More than a century ago, researchers unearthed the remains of a tiny, ancient reptile from inside a swath of sandstone in northeastern Scotland. Most of its skeleton was long gone, but scientists recently reconstructed the animal for the first time, identifying it as a reptilian predecessor of pterosaurs — the first reptiles to achieve powered flight.

For decades, paleontologists debated exactly how to categorize this 7-inch-long (20 centimeters) specimen from the Triassic period (252 million to 201 million years ago), which was first described in 1907 and named Scleromochlus taylori. In a new study, published Wednesday (Oct. 5) in the journal Nature (opens in new tab), scientists finally set the record straight, placing it in a group that includes pterosaurs as well as other early reptiles.

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