* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Friday, June 27, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Susquehanna Raises Penn Entertainment Inc. (PENN) Price Target. – Yahoo Finance

    Susquehanna Raises Price Target for Penn Entertainment Inc. (PENN)

    George Lopez is coming to Spokane – KXLY.com

    George Lopez is coming to Spokane – KXLY.com

    Netflix unveils Dallas immersive venue for fans of hit shows like ‘Squid Game,’ ‘Stranger Things’ – Houston Chronicle

    Step Inside Netflix’s New Dallas Immersive Experience Featuring Hits Like ‘Squid Game’ and ‘Stranger Things

    ‘Puttin’ on the Ritz’: Civic Players bring ‘Young Frankenstein’ to life – Yahoo

    Civic Players Deliver a Hilarious and Unforgettable Performance of ‘Young Frankenstein

    ‘Wheel of Fortune’: Amputee Wins $60,000 After Breaking Incredible ‘Curse’ – Hastings Tribune

    Wheel of Fortune’ Amputee Breaks Incredible ‘Curse’ to Win $60,000!

    North Star Sports & Entertainment Network: Coming soon – KTTC News

    North Star Sports & Entertainment Network: Coming soon – KTTC News

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    St. Francis Medical Center brings advanced robotic surgery technology to Northeast Louisiana – KNOE

    St. Francis Medical Center brings advanced robotic surgery technology to Northeast Louisiana – KNOE

    Wayve Expands Engineering Leadership to Power Next-Gen Autonomous Driving Technology – Silicon Canals

    Wayve Boosts Engineering Leadership to Accelerate Next-Gen Autonomous Driving Innovation

    Frontdoor Announces Tech Expert Dr. Bala Ganesh as Chief Technology Officer – Business Wire

    Frontdoor Appoints Tech Visionary Dr. Bala Ganesh as New Chief Technology Officer

    Defense technology giant Northrop Grumman to host interviews in Iuka to fill technician roles – supertalk.fm

    Defense technology giant Northrop Grumman to host interviews in Iuka to fill technician roles – supertalk.fm

    China’s Military Introduces Mosquito-Sized Drones: A Game-Changing Surveillance Technology – Indian Defence Review

    China Unveils Mosquito-Sized Drones: Revolutionizing Surveillance Technology

    Marvell Technology Stock Rallies After AI Event Sparks Investor Optimism – Yahoo Finance

    Marvell Technology Stock Rallies After AI Event Sparks Investor Optimism – Yahoo Finance

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Susquehanna Raises Penn Entertainment Inc. (PENN) Price Target. – Yahoo Finance

    Susquehanna Raises Price Target for Penn Entertainment Inc. (PENN)

    George Lopez is coming to Spokane – KXLY.com

    George Lopez is coming to Spokane – KXLY.com

    Netflix unveils Dallas immersive venue for fans of hit shows like ‘Squid Game,’ ‘Stranger Things’ – Houston Chronicle

    Step Inside Netflix’s New Dallas Immersive Experience Featuring Hits Like ‘Squid Game’ and ‘Stranger Things

    ‘Puttin’ on the Ritz’: Civic Players bring ‘Young Frankenstein’ to life – Yahoo

    Civic Players Deliver a Hilarious and Unforgettable Performance of ‘Young Frankenstein

    ‘Wheel of Fortune’: Amputee Wins $60,000 After Breaking Incredible ‘Curse’ – Hastings Tribune

    Wheel of Fortune’ Amputee Breaks Incredible ‘Curse’ to Win $60,000!

    North Star Sports & Entertainment Network: Coming soon – KTTC News

    North Star Sports & Entertainment Network: Coming soon – KTTC News

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    St. Francis Medical Center brings advanced robotic surgery technology to Northeast Louisiana – KNOE

    St. Francis Medical Center brings advanced robotic surgery technology to Northeast Louisiana – KNOE

    Wayve Expands Engineering Leadership to Power Next-Gen Autonomous Driving Technology – Silicon Canals

    Wayve Boosts Engineering Leadership to Accelerate Next-Gen Autonomous Driving Innovation

    Frontdoor Announces Tech Expert Dr. Bala Ganesh as Chief Technology Officer – Business Wire

    Frontdoor Appoints Tech Visionary Dr. Bala Ganesh as New Chief Technology Officer

    Defense technology giant Northrop Grumman to host interviews in Iuka to fill technician roles – supertalk.fm

    Defense technology giant Northrop Grumman to host interviews in Iuka to fill technician roles – supertalk.fm

    China’s Military Introduces Mosquito-Sized Drones: A Game-Changing Surveillance Technology – Indian Defence Review

    China Unveils Mosquito-Sized Drones: Revolutionizing Surveillance Technology

    Marvell Technology Stock Rallies After AI Event Sparks Investor Optimism – Yahoo Finance

    Marvell Technology Stock Rallies After AI Event Sparks Investor Optimism – Yahoo Finance

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

This giant polar reptile once stalked an ancient super-ocean

June 20, 2024
in Science
This giant polar reptile once stalked an ancient super-ocean
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Fossils show that the sea dragon-like New Zealand nothosaur had sharp teeth and reached 23 feet in length.

Laura Baisas Avatar

Posted on Jun 17, 2024 11:00 AM EDT

an illustration of three long-necked and marine reptiles swimming with four paddle shaped limbs in an ancient sea

An illustration of nothosaurs swimming and eating along the ancient southern polar coast of present day New Zealand. These are the oldest known sea-going reptiles from the Southern Hemisphere. Stavros Kundromichalis

In today’s oceans, sea turtles, marine iguanas, saltwater crocodiles, and sea snakes are the primary reptilian residents amongst tons of mammals and fish. This was not always the case, as fossil evidence shows that about 252 million years ago reptiles dominated the seas. Now, an international team of scientists have put together another piece of this puzzle and identified the oldest fossil of a sea-dwelling reptile from the Southern Hemisphere. The vertebra fossil belonged to the sea dragon-like nothosaurus and was found in a stream bed on New Zealand’s South Island. The findings are described in a study published June 17 in the journal Current Biology.

[Related: New species of extinct marine reptile found with help from 11-year-old child.]

When reptiles ruled the seas

Millions of years before dinosaurs roamed the Earth, reptiles were the kings of Earth’s seas. 

The most diverse and geologically longest surviving group of these extinct marine reptiles are the sauropterygians. They have an evolutionary history spanning over 180 million years. Sauropterygians included the long-necked plesiosaurs–which looked like the popular image of the Loch Ness Monster.

a single nothosaur with a long body and sharp pointy teeth.Reconstruction of the New Zealand nothosaur. The oldest sea-going reptile from the Southern Hemisphere. Artwork by Johan Egerkrans. CREDIT: Johan Egerkrans.

The nothosaur was a distant predecessor of the plesiosaurs. They were roughly 23 feet long and used four paddle-like limbs to swim and flattened skulls with slender conical teeth inside their mouths that were used to catch fish and squid.

The nothosaurus vertebra found in this study dates back to when present day New Zealand was located on the southern polar coast of a vast super-ocean called Panthalassa. When a mass extinction called the Great Dying devastated marine ecosystems about 250 million years ago, the surviving reptiles found opportunity in Earth’s oceans. 

Scientists have found evidence of this evolutionary benchmark on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen, northwestern North America, and southwestern China. This single nothosaur vertebra fossil in the study is one of the latest finds from this time period and could shed new light on the history of ancient sea reptiles from the Southern Hemisphere. 

A new look at an old fossil

The New Zealand nothosaur was initially discovered during a geological survey in 1978, embedded in a boulder in a stream at the foot of Mount Harper on the South Island of New Zealand. The importance of this was not fully recognized until a team of paleontologists from Australia, East Timor, Norway, New Zealand, and Sweden collaborated to examine and analyze the vertebra and other fossils. 

“The nothosaur found in New Zealand is over 40 million years older than the previously oldest known sauropterygian fossils from the Southern Hemisphere,” Benjamin Kear, a study co-author and paleontologist at The Museum of Evolution at Uppsala University in Sweden, said in a statement. “We show that these ancient sea reptiles lived in a shallow coastal environment teeming with marine creatures within what was then the southern polar circle.”

a black vertebra fossilOriginal fossil of the New Zealand nothosaur vertebra. The oldest sea-going reptile from the Southern Hemisphere. Image by Benjamin Kear. CREDIT: Benjamin Kear.

The oldest known nothosaur fossils are roughly 248 million years old. They have primarily been found along an ancient northern low-latitude belt that stretched from the remote northeastern to northwestern borders of the Panthalassa super-ocean. 

Surfing the Panthalassa super-ocean

Paleontologists are still debating the origin, distribution, and timing of when nothosaurs reached these distant areas. Some prevailing theories suggest that they either migrated along northern polar coastlines, swam through inland seaways, or utilized currents to cross the Panthalassa super-ocean. Now, this new nothosaur fossil is throwing some cold water on these hypotheses.

“Using a time-calibrated evolutionary model of sauropterygian global distributions, we show that nothosaurs originated near the equator, then rapidly spread both northwards and southwards at the same time as complex marine ecosystems became re-established after the cataclysmic mass extinction that marked the beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs,” said Kear.

[Related: This Jurassic-era ‘sea murderer’ was among the first of its kind.]

When the Age of the Dinosaurs began, the Earth was going through an extreme period of global warming. The warm temperatures allowed these marine reptiles to thrive at Earth’s South Pole. Kear and the team believe that this suggests the ancient polar regions were likely the primary route for the nothosaurus’ earliest global migration. This is similar to the incredibly long migrations undertaken by today’s whales.

More study is needed to confirm this and will only come from digging up more remains of this ancient real-life sea dragon. 

“Undoubtedly, there are more fossil remains of long-extinct sea monsters waiting to be discovered in New Zealand and elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere,” says Kear.

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : Popular Science – https://www.popsci.com/environment/new-zealand-sea-dragon-nothosaur/

Tags: giantpolarscience
Previous Post

New Study Suggests Universal Laws Govern Brain Structure From Mice to Men

Next Post

As ‘zombie’ deer disease spreads, scientists look for answers

St. Francis Medical Center brings advanced robotic surgery technology to Northeast Louisiana – KNOE

St. Francis Medical Center brings advanced robotic surgery technology to Northeast Louisiana – KNOE

June 27, 2025
NBA Draft 2025: Did the Hornets reach for Kon Knueppel? And why the Spurs did the right thing with Dylan Harper – Yahoo Sports

NBA Draft 2025: Did the Hornets Overreach for Kon Knueppel? Why the Spurs’ Pick of Dylan Harper Was a Brilliant Move

June 27, 2025
Fossil evidence of proboscidean frugivory and its lasting impact on South American ecosystems – Nature

Fossil evidence of proboscidean frugivory and its lasting impact on South American ecosystems – Nature

June 27, 2025
Distrust in public-health institutions is not just an American problem – The Economist

Distrust in public-health institutions is not just an American problem – The Economist

June 27, 2025
Cuts to federal science spending will cost every American – University of California

Cuts to federal science spending will cost every American – University of California

June 27, 2025
CCTA Bests CV Risk Scores for Bolstering Lifestyle Changes, Medication Uptake – TCTMD.com

CCTA Bests CV Risk Scores for Bolstering Lifestyle Changes, Medication Uptake – TCTMD.com

June 27, 2025
TIFF announces first wave of World Premieres! – TIFF – Toronto International Film Festival

TIFF announces first wave of World Premieres! – TIFF – Toronto International Film Festival

June 27, 2025
With no end to war in sight, Ukraine’s economy teeters on the edge – The Washington Post

Ukraine’s Economy on the Edge as Conflict Shows No End in Sight

June 27, 2025
A typical workday for freelancer Ashley Abramson – Association of Health Care Journalists

A Day in the Life of Freelancer Ashley Abramson: Inside Her Dynamic Workday

June 27, 2025
‘This is not a luxury’: Families in Trump states agonize over GOP’s proposed Medicaid cuts – CNN

Families in Trump States Face Hardship Amid GOP’s Push for Major Medicaid Cuts

June 27, 2025

Categories

Archives

June 2025
MTWTFSS
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30 
« May    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (699)
  • Economy (719)
  • Entertainment (21,613)
  • General (15,586)
  • Health (9,758)
  • Lifestyle (724)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (721)
  • Politics (726)
  • Science (15,937)
  • Sports (21,216)
  • Technology (15,704)
  • World (699)

Recent News

St. Francis Medical Center brings advanced robotic surgery technology to Northeast Louisiana – KNOE

St. Francis Medical Center brings advanced robotic surgery technology to Northeast Louisiana – KNOE

June 27, 2025
NBA Draft 2025: Did the Hornets reach for Kon Knueppel? And why the Spurs did the right thing with Dylan Harper – Yahoo Sports

NBA Draft 2025: Did the Hornets Overreach for Kon Knueppel? Why the Spurs’ Pick of Dylan Harper Was a Brilliant Move

June 27, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version