{"id":36757,"date":"2024-03-21T10:01:42","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T09:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/7d0a3a66-c1c2-40db-9559-abb7046e202d"},"modified":"2024-03-21T10:35:44","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T09:35:44","slug":"giant-crocodile-ancestor-with-epic-suit-of-armour-identified-in-texas","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/giant-crocodile-ancestor-with-epic-suit-of-armour-identified-in-texas\/","title":{"rendered":"Giant crocodile ancestor with epic ‘suit of armour’ identified in Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

After 30 years hidden away in a Texas university, the fossil of an aetosaur \u2013 a heavily armoured ancestor of modern crocodiles \u2013 has been identified as a new species, according to a recent study. <\/p>

By Daniel Graham\n <\/p>

Published: Thursday, 21 March 2024 at 09:01 AM<\/p>

\n\n

During a trip to Texas Tech University<\/a>, William Reyes, a doctoral student at the University of Texas Jackson School of Geosciences<\/a> encountered the fossilised remains of an aetosaur, a heavily armoured cousin of modern crocodiles that ruled the world long before dinosaurs.<\/p>

The specimen had been sitting on a shelf for 30 years, and until this moment hadn’t be studied properly. Intrigued, Reyes and his colleagues set about identifying the aetosaur, eventually concluding that it was a new species. The research, published in\u00a0 The Anatomical Record<\/a>, sheds light on the evolution of aetosaur armour.<\/p>

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William Reyes, a doctoral student at the Jackson School of Geosciences, examines an aetosaur specimen on display at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. Credit: William Reyes<\/figcaption><\/figure>
A rare find<\/h3>
Aetosaurs are best identified by the bony plates that make up their armour, but scientists don\u2019t usually have many fossil skeletons to work with. The ‘suit of armour’ found in the Texas Tech University collection is different, in that most of its major parts remain intact.<\/p>
\u201cWe have elements from the back of the neck and shoulder region all the way to the tip of the tail,\u201d says Reyes, who led the research. \u201cUsually, you find very limited material.\u201d<\/p>
The quality of the armour allowed Reyes and his collaborators to identify the specimen as a new aetosaur species. They named is\u00a0Garzapelta muelleri<\/em>; ‘Garza<\/em>‘ referring Garza County in north-west Texas, where the aetosaur was found, and ‘pelta<\/em>‘ deriving from the Latin word for shield, a nod to aetosaurs\u2019 heavily protected body. The species name ‘muelleri<\/em>‘ came from Bill Mueller, the palaeontologist who originally discovered the fossil.<\/p>
$\"Bony$
Bony plates of armour called osteoderms from the Garzapelta muelleri specimen in the Texas Tech collections. Credit: William Reyes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
$\"Bryan$
Bryan Small, a co-author on the study and researcher at Texas Tech University, holding an osteoderm from the newly identified aetosaur Garzapelta muelleri. Credit: William Reyes<\/figcaption><\/figure>
$\"A$
An osteoderm from the tail region of Garzapelta muelleri; op image is the osteoderm as seen from above. The bottom image is the osteoderm seen from the side. Credit: William Reye<\/figcaption><\/figure>
What did Garzapelta muelleri<\/em> <\/em>look like?<\/h3>
Garzapelta<\/em> muelleri<\/em> resembled a modern American crocodile but it had even more armour. It had bony plates (called osteoderms) all over its body that were embedded directly in the skin, forming a thick, tightly knit ‘suit of armour’.<\/p>
Additional protection from predators came from a series of curved spikes that spanned the side of Garzapelta<\/em> muelleri<\/em>. <\/p>
\u201cTake a crocodile from modern day, and turn it into an armadillo,\u201d says Reyes.<\/p>
Despite its daunting appearance, researchers think that aetosaurs were primarily omnivorous – unlike today’s modern crocodiles.<\/p>
$\"Garzapelta$
A hypothetical reconstruction of the aetosaur Garzapelta muelleri, as seen from above, based on fossilized carapace remains in the Texas Tech vertebrate collections. The reconstruction is pictured with examples of its plated and spiked armour in cross-section. Credit: Jeffrey Martz.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Clues in the spikes<\/h3>
According to Reyes, analysis of\u00a0Garzapelta\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>plates clearly sets it apart as a new species; the study identifies the way the plates fit together, and the unique bumps and ridges on the bones as examples of this. <\/p>
Figuring out where exactly\u00a0Garzapelta<\/em>\u00a0fits into the larger aetosaur family tree was more difficult, Reyes admits. Analysis of one part of the fossil \u2013 for example, the armour that ran down its back \u2013 would place Garzapelta\u00a0<\/em>somewhere difference to analysis of another section, such its midsection. <\/p>
The researchers determined that the spikes must have evolved independently through convergent evolution (the independent evolution of similar traits in different species).<\/p>
\u201cConvergence of the osteoderms across distantly related aetosaurs has been noted before, but the carapace (the armour) of\u00a0Garzapelta muelleri<\/em>\u00a0is the best example of it and shows to what extent it can happen and the problems it causes in our phylogenetic analyses,\u201d says Reyes.<\/p>
$\"\"$
An illustration depicting the general bodyplan of an aetosaur with photos of osteoderms from the aetosaur Garzapelta muelleri shown below it. Credit: Jeffrey Martz<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Bill Parker, an aetosaur expert and park palaeontologist at Petrified Forest National Park<\/a> in Texas says: \u201cThese specimens weren\u2019t just dug in the field yesterday. They\u2019ve been sitting in the museum for decades and it just takes someone like Will to come along and finally decide to study them and make them come to life.\u201d<\/p>
Using aetosaur fossils in the Jackson School\u2019s collection, most of which were found during the 1940s as part of excavations done by the Works Progress Administration, Reyes is currently exploring how an animal\u2019s age or sex could also affect armour appearance. <\/p>
$\"An$
An artist\u2019s interpretation of the newly identified aetosaur, Garzapelta muelleri (spiked reptile in mid-ground on right), and other prehistoric reptiles, amphibians and mammal relatives. Credit: Marcio L. Castro.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
The research<\/a> was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Jackson School. The study co-authors are Jeffrey Martz, an associate professor at the University of Houston-Downtown, and Bryan Small, a research associate at the Museum of Texas Tech University.<\/p>
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Main image: An artist\u2019s interpretation of the newly identified aetosaur, Garzapelta muelleri. Credit: Marcio L. Castro.<\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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