Inner ears of fossil marine reptiles called
sauropterygians are revealed for the first time
Date: December
7, 2017
Source:
University of Oxford
Summary:
A new study led by Oxford University Museum
of Natural History has revealed that an extinct group of marine reptiles called
sauropterygians evolved similar inner ear proportions to those of some modern
day aquatic reptiles and mammals. The research is published in Current
Biology today.
Sauropterygians were swimming reptiles from
the 'Age of Dinosaurs' that included some semi-aquatic forms, nearshore
swimmers and fully-aquatic 'underwater-flyers'. Their most well-known members
are the plesiosaurs, ferocious sea monsters with four flippers, which hunted
anything from small fish and squid to large marine reptiles.
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