Fossil of long-necked ancient reptile reveals the spices was adaptable, lived underwater

The mystery of an ancient reptile with a tremendously long neck has now been solved as researchers recently found out that the creature lived in water and were surprisingly adaptable. Tanystropheus, a bizarre giraffe-necked reptile which lived 242 million years ago, is believed to be paleontological absurdity as its neck was three-time as long as its torso, but it only had 13 extremely elongated vertebrates. 

While paleontologists, for nearly 150-years, have been puzzled over Tanystropheus and its strange neck, a new study led by the University of Zurich revealed crucial aspects of the reptiles lifestyle. According to the research published in Current Biology, an international team of scientists reconstructed the ancient reptile skull in unprecedented detail using an extremely powerful form of CT scan, known as synchrotron radiation micro-computed tomography. 

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The researchers were able to reconstruct an almost complete 3D skull from a severely crushed fossil. Scientists revealed that the Tanystropheus' skull showed very clear adoptions for life in water. They said that the nostrils of the ancient reptile are located on the top of the snout, much like in modern crocodiles. Scientists further noted that its teeth were long and curved which perfectly adapted for catching slippery prey like fish and squid. 

However, with the lack of visible adaptions for swimming in the limbs and tail, the researches said that Tanystropheus was not particularly an efficient swimmer. Further, the researchers revealed that the reptile had evolved into two different species. 

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Long-neck allowed several lifestyles 

According to the research, Tanystropheus remains have mainly been found at Monte San Giorgio on the border between Switzerland and Italy. The two types of Tanystropheus fossils are known from the aforementioned location, one small and one large.

Until now, it was believed that the two fossils were of a juvenile and adults of the same species. However, the recent research disapproved the assumption and suggested that the reconstructed skull, belonging to a large specimen, is very different from the already known smaller skulls. 

The scientists look at cross-sections of limbs from the smaller type of Tanystropheus. They found that many growth rings, which were formed because of drastically slowed down bone growth. The study's co-author Torsten Scheyer explained that the number and distribution of the growth rings tell that these smaller types were not young animals, as previously considered, but mature ones. 

While Scheyer believes that the small fossils belonged to a separate, smaller species of Tanystropheus, the scientists also noted that the two closely related species had evolved to use different food sourced in the same environment. The researchers informed that the small species likely fed on small shelled animals and the large species, on the other hand, ate fish and squid. 

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