阿根廷圣胡安国立大学Ricardo N. Martínez、美国哈佛大学Tiago R. Simões等研究人员合作揭示蜥蜴类爬行动物的起源。相关论文于2021年8月25日在线发表于国际学术期刊《自然》。
研究人员报告了一个三维保存的爬行动物头骨，它被命名为Taytalura alcoberi gen. et sp. nov.，来自阿根廷晚三叠纪，使用各种数据类型和优化标准，从系统发育上推断它是最早进化的鳞片动物。该头骨的微型计算机断层扫描揭示了鳞龙头骨起源于早期二叠纪的细节，并表明传统上与斑点楔齿蜥类相关的几个特征实际上起源于鳞龙演化的早期。Taytalura表明，斑点楔齿蜥类强烈进化保守的头骨结构代表了所有鳞龙的多形性条件，茎鳞龙和冠鳞龙在三叠纪至少有1000万年的时间是同时存在的，而且早期鳞龙类的地理分布比以前认为的要广得多。
据了解，在二叠纪爬行动物的早期演化中，人们对初龙型类（鳄鱼、鸟类和非鸟类恐龙）和鳞龙类（有鳞类（蜥蜴、蛇）和斑点楔齿蜥类（tuataras））的起源和早期演化的认识形成了鲜明的对比。前者包括三叠纪时期各系的数百种化石，而后者的早期化石记录极为零散，仅有少量的零星化石，其中大部分化石的系统发育关系不明确，且只限于欧洲。
附：英文原文
Title: A Triassic stem lepidosaur illuminates the origin of lizard-like reptiles
Author: Martnez, Ricardo N., Simes, Tiago R., Sobral, Gabriela, Apestegua, Sebastin
Issue&Volume: 2021-08-25
Abstract: The early evolution of diapsid reptiles is marked by a deep contrast between our knowledge of the origin and early evolution of archosauromorphs (crocodiles, avian and non-avian dinosaurs) to that of lepidosauromorphs (squamates (lizards, snakes) and sphenodontians (tuataras)). Whereas the former include hundreds of fossil species across various lineages during the Triassic period1, the latter are represented by an extremely patchy early fossil record comprising only a handful of fragmentary fossils, most of which have uncertain phylogenetic affinities and are confined to Europe1,2,3. Here we report the discovery of a three-dimensionally preserved reptile skull, assigned as Taytalura alcoberi gen. et sp. nov., from the Late Triassic epoch of Argentina that is robustly inferred phylogenetically as the earliest evolving lepidosauromorph, using various data types and optimality criteria. Micro-computed tomography scans of this skull reveal details about the origin of the lepidosaurian skull from early diapsids, suggesting that several traits traditionally associated with sphenodontians in fact originated much earlier in lepidosauromorph evolution. Taytalura suggests that the strongly evolutionarily conserved skull architecture of sphenodontians represents the plesiomorphic condition for all lepidosaurs, that stem and crown lepidosaurs were contemporaries for at least ten million years during the Triassic, and that early lepidosauromorphs had a much broader geographical distribution than has previously been thought.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03834-3
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03834-3
Nature：《自然》，创刊于1869年。隶属于施普林格·自然出版集团，最新IF：69.504
官方网址：http://www.nature.com/
投稿链接：http://www.nature.com/authors/submit_manuscript.html
本期文章：《自然》：Online/在线发表
