Photo: Supplied / GNS Science / Benjamin KearA 246-million-year-old fossil discovered in Canterbury upends long-standing theories about Earth's natural history, researchers say. Photo: Supplied / GNS Science / Johan_EgerkransGNS Science held onto the fossil after palaeontologist Dr Hamish Campbell discovered it in 1978, but it was not properly studied until this year. Photo: Supplied / GNS Science / Benjamin Kear"We [now] know the age of this fossil, and it's a lot older than the oldest known similar fossil from the Southern Hemisphere," Dr Campbell said. Photo: Supplied / GNS Science / Stavros_KundromichalisNothosaurs were predecessors to plesiosaurs, massive swimming lizards with long necks and flippers. "It's a sauropterygian, so to translate that it means 'lizard flipper,' a marine reptile," Dr Campbell said.

Source: Stuff June 18, 2024 19:49 UTC