PHOENIX — Fossils from the Petrified Forest National Park, in northern Arizona, revealed a new reptile species that thrived during the Triassic Period.
Paleontologists and partners with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History who made the discovery named the species Akidostropheus oligos.
The findings were published in the BioOne Digital Library online journal.
It’s essentially a long-necked reptile that lived in swamps or small rivers more than 220 million years ago.
It’s neck is believed to be twice as long as the body and tail combined.
For comparison, giraffe necks generally make up one-third of its total body length.
Where were the fossils found?
The fossils were discovered at a site known as Thunderstorm Ridge.
Teams began research expeditions in the Petrified Forest in 2010.
In 2017, excavation crews focused on a layer of sandstone they named Thunderstorm Ridge, hauling large amounts of rock and sediment, breaking it down and examining the material, eventually discovering the Akidostropheus oligos.
The area is also where Puercosuchus traverorum, another Triassic reptile, was discovered in 2022.
Lineage of the species and what its name means
The Akidostropheus oligos is the only species of its genus.
It comes from the family of Tanyustopheidae. Most Tanyustopheidae fossils are flattened and found two dimensional.
The fossils in the Petrified Forest are mostly three dimensional.
The Akidostropheus oligos fossils reveled extremely small, spiked bones, a unique feature of the creature.
Akis, stropheus and oligos are Greek terms meaning spike, joint and small, respectively.
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