Artist reconstruction of ancient lizard - Artistic reconstruction of the fossil squamate, Bellairsia gracilis, basking on a dinosaur footprint. Artwork by Dr Elsa Panciroli.
Artist reconstruction of ancient lizard - Artistic reconstruction of the fossil squamate, Bellairsia gracilis, basking on a dinosaur footprint. Artwork by Dr Elsa Panciroli. A fossil discovery from Scotland has provided new information on the early evolution of lizards, during the time of the dinosaurs, reports a study involving UCL researchers. The tiny skeleton discovered on the Isle of Skye, called Bellairsia gracilis , is only 6 cm long and dates from the Middle Jurassic, 166 million years ago. The exceptional new fossil comprises a near-complete skeleton in life-like articulation, missing only the snout and tail. This makes it the most complete fossil lizard of this age anywhere in the world. Bellairsia has a mixture of ancestral and modern features in its skeleton, providing evidence of what the ancestor of today's lizards (which are part of the wider animal group known as 'squamates') might have looked like.
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