Using advanced X - ray scanning and 3-D rendition , a team of scientists from Yale University and the Smithsonian have identified a snappy new species of ancient reptilian from a individual fossilized skull .
With a 2.5 - centimeter - long head , Colobops noviportensis(colobopsfrom the Greek for shortened nerve ; andnoviportensis , for New Haven , Connecticut , where the dodo was found ) was a flyspeck beast – unlikely to trace too much attention compared to the massive dinosaur and archosaur species that also roamed Pangea some 200 million years ago .
Yet after a lengthy analysis of the specimen , now published inNature Communications , the research worker show that C.noviportensis’petite bite packed an incredible punch .
TV good manners of the Yale Office of Public Affairs and Communications
" Colobops would have been a bantam but plucky small animal , part of a little - known menagerie of small animals that lived among the first dinosaurs , " said senior author Bhart - Anjan Bhullar in astatement .
" Its petite human body hid some big secret . "
According to a calculator - found reconstructive memory of how muscle confiscate to the skull , C. noviportensishad impressively beefy adductor muscular structure attached to a reinforced yet flexible snout . Taken all together , the authors conclude that the reptile ’s jaw could clamp down with such force that “ for an animal of its dead body sizing , C. noviportensislikely had a more powerful bite than any other Triassic reptile . ”
This entourage of unequaled strong-arm trait , or a jaw brawniness system that match it , has also not been observed in any currently livingdiapsids – a grouping that includes ancient reptiles and their posterity ( crocodiles , lounge lizard , snake , tuatara , and dinosaur / fowl ) , meaning thatC. noviportensisis still in phone number one seat for secure reptilian jaws for an brute its size of it , even hundreds of billion of long time after it populate .
Not bad for a gecko - sizedarchosaur .
Based on our current evolutionary trees , C. noviportensisis believed to have branched off from other Triassic diapsids soon after the massivePermo - Triassic experimental extinction event(cheerily nicknamed the “ Great Dying ” ) just about 252 million years ago .
During the period , the diapsid that had survive the effect diversify greatly , acquiring fresh adaptation to tap resources or habitats newly vacated by nonextant species . C. noviportensistook the opportunity to develop jaws capable of crushing through scales and bone , suggesting it may have eaten other reptiles , though we ’ll likely never know for sealed .
Given the scarceness ofC. noviportensisin the dodo record , we ’re also unlikely to know exactly what pass off to the cutthroat trivial animal and why its seemingly advanced jaw system was not passed down to succeeding species .
