Paleontologists find 308 million year old fossil of new species of tiny dinosaur-like creature

Experts have discovered a 308 million year old fossil of a new species of dinosaur-like creature in Illinois.

Known as Joermungandr bolti, this new species of microsaur – an extinct lizard-like creature that could be an ancestor of reptiles and was the size of a finger – likely used its head to dig underground, scientists citing a pattern of ridges on the fossil that is similar to the scales of modern reptiles that burrow into the ground.

“He would probably be a head-first burrower, using his head to dig into the ground,” study co-author Arjan Mann, postdoctoral researcher at the Smithsonian Institution, told AFP.

Experts have found a 308 million year old fossil of a new species of microsaur known as Joermungandr bolti (artist portrayal in photo)

“Its limbs were probably not very functional. He may have used them to stabilize himself as he wobbled. But its main mode of movement would have been a lateral winding like a snake.

Joermungandr’s fossilized body was found in a bog in Francis Creek Shale, Illinois and is about two inches long, with four short legs.

This creature probably used its head to dig underground because its four limbs were too short

Microsaurs roamed the Earth in the late Carboniferous and early Permian, between 359 and 299 million years ago, when amniotes, creatures that predate modern mammals and reptiles, first appeared.

The fossilized body was found in a bog in Francis Creek Shale, Illinois. Microsaurs roamed the Earth 359-299 million years ago

“Many details of this transition are not well known,” Mann told AFP.

“Microsaurs have recently become important in understanding the origins of amniotes,” he added. “Many of these microsaurs are considered to be ancestors of amphibians or reptiles.”

Crests were found on the fossil, similar to the scales of modern reptiles, challenging the previous idea that microsaurs were amphibians (which do not have scales)

Scientists used an imaging technique known as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to observe the fossil.

The fossil also contains some of his skin, which surprised the researchers.

“The areas of the skin were only known from fragmentary fossils before,” Mann said.

“This microsaur is the whole shebang … it’s very rare for these fossils. It’s very rare for a 300 million year old object to have skin with it! ‘

The researchers also identified that Joermungandr had scales, which challenges the previous idea that microsaurs were amphibians (which do not have scales).

“Modern amphibians … are soft and slimy things, it wasn’t a soft and slimy thing,” Mann explains.

“This animal really looked like a reptile.”

The research has been published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.