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An exceptional fossil lizard from the Jurassic period

Lizards and snakes belong to the highly successful group of reptiles called squamates, but a poor fossil record has obscured their early evolutionary history. A discovery now sheds light on this enigmatic portion of the tree of life.
  1. Arnau Bolet

    1. Arnau Bolet is at Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès E08193, Spain, and in the School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.

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Our collective imagination tends to picture a palaeontologist as an intrepid character similar to the fictional explorer Indiana Jones, searching for ancient material in remote places. But what comes after specimen gathering is frequently ignored. Writing in Nature, Tałanda et al.1 show that finding a fossil is just the start of the journey. Their discovery, a block of rock exposing a few delicate bones on its surface, was hiding a surprise that only modern imaging techniques could reveal. The sample contained an almost complete skeleton of a tiny lizard, with most of its bones in contact in their original anatomical position (partially articulated). The findings could help to answer questions about the first steps in the evolution of squamates, a group of reptiles that includes lizards and snakes.

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Nature 611, 36-37 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03364-6

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 04 November 2022: The original version of this News & Views incorrectly swapped the positions of Lacertoidea and Scincoidea on the evolutionary tree. The figure has now been corrected.

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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