December 6, 2016
by Brett Smith
Fossils of what could possibly be
the earliest four-legged vertebrates to walk on land were recently found in
Scotland, according to a new report in the journal
Nature Ecology & Evolution.
The team behind the discovery
said the lizard-like animals that left behind these fossils lived approximately
355 million years ago when the precursors of modern reptiles, birds, and
mammals appeared out of swamps.
The discovery fills in a 15
million-year gap in the fossil record and included five completely intact
fossils, with many more pieces of bones yet to be categorized.
The researchers said some fossil
fragments look like lizards or newts, and some are bigger, with crocodile-like
dimensions.
"We're lifting the lid on a
key part of the evolutionary story of life on land," team member Jennifer
Clack, of the University of Cambridge, told
BBC News. "What happened then affects everything that happens
subsequently - so it affects the fact that we are here and which other animals
live with us today."
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