The remains of an ancient lizard talked about the evolution of a snail shell

U.S. scientists discovered in the state of New Mexico remains of ancient reptiles, which clarifies the evolution of modern turtle shell, said New Scientist. The work was carried out by members of the Museum of Natural History Peabody (Peabody Museum of Natural History) and published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Discovered the remains belonged to 30-cm reptiles, who lived in the region 210 million years ago. The first fragments of the remains (of the cervical vertebrae) of this type, received the name Chinlechelys tenertesta, were found more than 10 years ago. Even then, scientists suspected that their ancestor of modern turtles, but that fact until recently been challenged until the researchers could not locate the other fragments of skeletons of this type.

According to scientists, the new specimen confirms the picture of the emergence of the modern shell turtles. It is believed that during the evolution of protective plates on the body of reptiles sroslis, creating a seamless shell. What "profits" is just such a defense scientists can not explain.

Searched appearance of the Triassic period (250 -200 million years ago). The remains of turtles from the ensuing Jurassic are, according to archaeologists, as often finding that researchers have simply stopped collecting them. " Bone from the Triassic period, however, relatively rare. Scientists believe that this is due to habitat conditions that have hindered the process of fossilization body after the death of animals.