(Nov. 7) The fossil of a reptile ling 248 million years ago is the paleontological evidence of the transition to aquatic life of the ichthyosaurs. The animal was named Cartorhynchus lenticarpus. The study – which attests the relatively short transition for geological time of marine reptiles from land to water, published on Nature – has been realized by an international group composed by Da-Yong Jiang, from the Peking University, Ryosuke Motani (senior author) from the University of California and Andrea Tintori, from the University of Milan. “It has been already established that marine reptiles came from terrestrial forms – said Tintori – The ichthyosaurs were the first reptiles to return to a fully aquatic life after the final conquest of the mainland during the Carboniferous. However, the paleontological evidence of this passage lacked. Now the paleontological record tells us that this passage happened very quickly, thinking in geologic time: in no more than a million years.” The paleontological research, carried out in recent years in China by a group of scientists led by Jiang Da-Yong from the Peking University, conducted a series of important discoveries concerning the marine reptiles but also the evolution of fishes. Ryosuke Motani, from the University of California, is the maximum specialist of ichthyosaurs, reptiles or marine fossils that resemble actual dolphins. Tintori has been participating for years in excavations in the Majiashan quarry, near Chaohu, in the Anhui Province, China, which brought to light a hundred marine reptiles, including the subject of this study, in addition to many fishes and invertebrates. (red)
