“Visually, you’ll be able to think about the animal as a ‘sandworm’ from the ‘Dune’ science fiction novels and their film adaptation.”
Researchers have described a brand new species of worm lizard of the amphisbaenian genus that lived through the Eocene 56 to 33.9 million years in the past) within the Chambi mountains of Tunisia. The worm lizard, Terastiodontosaurus marcelosanchezi is the biggest worm lizard species within the Amphisbaenia group and has a cranium size that exceeds 5 centimeters, in response to a press launch put out by the Senckenberg Analysis Institute and Pure Historical past Museum detailing the invention.
“Our discovery from Tunisia, with an estimated cranium size exceeding 5 centimeters, is the biggest identified worm lizard species,” Prof. Dr. Georgios L. Georgalis from the Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals on the Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, stated within the press launch. “All proof signifies that the brand new species is expounded to the modern-day checkerboard worm lizard.”
The current checkerboard worm lizard (Trogonophis wiegmanni) additionally feeds on snails. Photograph: Alberto Sanchez Vialas/Senckenberg Analysis Institute and Pure Historical past Museum
The researchers used micro-computed tomography to doc the distinctive anatomy of the worm lizard, together with a really giant tooth within the higher jaw, flat molars, and different distinctive options that differentiate the species from others within the Amphisbaenia group.
“Visually, you’ll be able to think about the animal as a ‘sandworm’ from the ‘Dune’ science fiction novels and their film adaptation. Based mostly on the tooth construction and the unusually thick enamel, we will deduce that the animals had huge muscle energy of their jaws,” Georgalis stated. “We all know that at this time’s checkerboard worm lizards wish to eat snails by breaking open their shells. We are able to now assume that this lineage specialised in feeding on snails over 56 million years in the past and will crack them open effortlessly with their highly effective jaws. This feeding technique is due to this fact extraordinarily constant – it has defied all environmental modifications and accompanies the lineage to today.”
The entire analysis paper, “The world’s largest worm lizard: a brand new large trogonophid (Squamata: Amphisbaenia) with excessive dental variations from the Eocene of Chambi, Tunisia” may be learn on the Zoological Journal web site.
