China Finding Breaks Land to Sea Evolution Code
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| China Anhui Province Location of Investigation and Home of Eroded ountains today farr from Ocean lines. |
The new discovered amphibious fossil of ichthyosaur –named by international press as the "missing pre-historical link" of land-sea evolution chains once again reveals the potential for fossil discoveries in China.
China fossil dig-out can be considered price-less fossil havens. In the past years fossils unearthed in China have altered the way the world thinks about evolution providing fascinating fossil species such as the numerous feathered dinosaurs. Now the new unearthed fossil takes not to land-airborne evolution but to land sea evolution.
CNET reported on November 4th that the new ichthyosaur discovered in China is the missing link between the aquatic reptiles of the Mesozoic era and their terrestrial ancestors. The study was published online by the journal Nature.
The discovery was made by researchers at the University of California, Davis. This is the first time that paleontologists have found direct evidence that ichthyosaurs could come onto the land.
The specimen dated back to the Triassic period and is about 248 million years old. It measures just 45 centimeters (1.5 feet).The anatomy of the specie shows that evolution of flexible flippers has been taken place since that era. Flippers of the fossil are believed to be used for land mobility much like seals move today.
"The oldest ichthyosaurs -- of which we have found around 80 different species -- existed in the early Triassic, and the fossils we have found indicate an evolution from a land-dwelling reptile. Those earliest specimens exhibit lizard-like features -- necks, long tails, an absence of a dorsal fin, a slim body. As millions of years passed, they grew to resemble dolphins; yet what they originally evolved from is a mystery," researchers told the media.
The importance of fossil breakthrough for the scientific community is evident, however, the general public struggles when trying to understand the “practical value” of fossils in this modern age.
Recently investigations are finding new fossils which date to Eras of intense climate change. These findings have a unique value for the field of climate change research.
The New York Times reported on the words of Ryosuke Motani, a paleontologist at the University of California, Davis, and the lead author of the study.
"This was analogous to what might happen if the world gets warmer and warmer," said lead author and professor in the UC Davis Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Ryosuke Motani.
“When reptiles and mammals go marine, they typically go through a stage where they become amphibious and heavy, presumably to counter the waves near the coast,” he said.
"The animal lived about 4 million years after the worst mass extinction in Earth’s history, 252 million years ago," the researcher concluded.
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