Paleontologists discover ancient fossil of new dinosaur-like creature

Paleontologists discover 308 million-year-old fossil of a new species of tiny dinosaur-like creature known as a microsaur that used its head to smack into the ground and burrow

  • Experts found a 308 million-year-old fossil of a new species of microsaur 
  • Joermungandr bolti likely used its head to burrow underground
  • Ridges were found on the fossil, similar to the scales of modern reptiles 
  • The fossilized body was found in a bog in Francis Creek Shale, Illinois 
  • Microsaurs roamed the Earth between 359 and 299 million years ago 

Experts have discovered a 308 million-year-old fossil of a new species of a dinosaur-like creature in Illinois.

Known as Joermungandr bolti, this new species of microsaur — an extinct lizard-like creature that may be an ancestor of reptiles and was the size of a finger— likely used its head to burrow underground, with scientists citing a pattern of ridges on the fossil that is similar to the scales of modern reptiles that dig into the ground.

‘It would probably have been a head-first burrower, using its head to smack itself into the soil,’ study co-author Arjan Mann, a post-doctoral research fellow at the Smithsonian Institution, told AFP.

Experts found a 308 million-year-old fossil of a new species of microsaur known as Joermungandr bolti (artist representation pictured)

‘Its limbs were probably not very functional. It may have used them to stabilize itself as it was wobbling around. But its primary mode of movement would have been side winding like a snake.’

The fossilized body of Joermungandr was found in a bog in Francis Creek Shale, Illinois and measures around two inches long, with four short legs. 

This creature likely used its head to burrow underground because its four limbs were too short

Microsaurs roamed the Earth during the late Carboniferous and early Permian periods, between 359 and 299 million years ago, when amniotes, creatures that came prior to modern mammals and reptiles, first appeared. 

The fossilized body was found in a bog in Francis Creek Shale, Illinois. Microsaurs roamed the Earth between 359 and 299 million years ago

‘Many details of that transition aren’t well known,’ Mann explained to AFP.

‘Microsaurs have recently become important in understanding the origins of amniotes,’ he added. ‘A lot of these microsaurs have been thought to be either ancestors of amphibians or ancestors of reptiles.’

Ridges were found on the fossil, similar to the scales of modern reptiles, which puts the previous idea that microsaurs were amphibians (which do not have scales) into question

The scientists used an imaging technique known as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to get a look at the fossil. 

The fossil also contain part of its skin, which surprised the researchers.

‘Areas of the skin had only been known from fragmentary fossils before,’ said Mann.

‘This microsaur is the whole shebang… that’s very rare for these fossils. It’s very rare for anything 300 million years old to have skin with it!’ 

The researchers also identified that Joermungandr had scales, which puts the previous idea that microsaurs were amphibians (which do not have scales) into question.

‘Modern amphibians… are soft and slimy things, this was not a soft and slimy thing,’ says Mann.

‘This animal really had a reptile-like look to it.’

The research was published in the journal Royal Society Open Science. 

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