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Two weird , mammal - like reptiles that sort of looked like scaly rats , each small than a loaf of bread , swan ancient Brazil about 235 million long time ago , probably dine on insects the vulture snagged with their pointy dentition , a novel field of study finds .
The analytic thinking of two newfound specie of cynodont , a group that pass emanation to all living mammalian , sheds light on how mammals developed from these late Triassic creatures , the research worker said .
An artistic interpretation of what the newly identified cynodontBonacynodon schultzilooked like during its lifetime about 235 million years ago during the Triassic.
" These fresh fossils facilitate [ us ] understand in more detail the organic evolution of pre - mammalian variety that gave salary increase to the radical of mammals , in which we humans ( Homo sapiens ) are admit , " the study ’s lead author , Agustín Martinelli , a paleontologist at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil , told Live Science in an electronic mail . [ In exposure : Mammals Through Time ]
cynodont predate dinosaur , first appearing in the fogy phonograph record about 260 million years ago , during the Permian period . Their descendants include marsupial and placental mammals ( the furred creatures normally think of as mammal ) , as well as monotreme — mammals that lie eggs or else of ease up birth to live young , such asthe platypusandechidna , the researchers said .
However , the early cynodont that hold out during the late Permian and the former Triassic periods were n’t mammals , but rather reptiles with mammal - same skulls and jaw , the researchers say .
The specimen of one of thenewfound cynodont specieshas been resting in the collection department at the Museum of Earth Sciences in Rio de Janeiro , Brazil since 1946 . That ’s when L.I. Price , a Brazilian paleontologist , found the two skulls and two jaws in stone dating to between 237 million and 235 million years ago in the Santa Cruz do Sul municipality of Brazil ’s southern state of Rio Grande do Sul .
Those specimen belong to a lowly animal of about 12 inch ( 30 centimeters ) in duration , with unusually large , jut upper - dogtooth teeth suggest itate worm . The creature ’s anatomy indicates that it is part of an extinct family of carnivorous cynodont called Probainognathidae .
In fact , the newfound species is belike related toProbainognathus jenseni , a species discovered in Triassic - age rock ‘n’ roll of the La Rioja responsibility in westerly Argentina . But the research worker said the freshly discover creature is different enough to warrant having its own genus and species : Bonacynodon schultzi . The name honour two lofty paleontologists , José Bonaparte from Argentina and Cesar Schultz from Brazil , both of whom drop their lives studying the Triassic fossils of South America .
The other newfound cynodont species , also discovered in the state of Rio Grande do Sul , was discover from few remains — just ajaw with teeth , the researchers enunciate . The scientist nickname itSantacruzgnathus abdalai , in honor of Fernando Abdala , an Argentinian paleontologist who studies South American and African cynodonts , the research worker said .
S. abdalaiwas about half the sizing ofB. schultzi , measuring only 6 inch ( 15 cm ) in duration . The shape and dentition ofS. abdalai’steeth are " evocative of those present in former mammals , " Martinelli said .
However , both cynodonts live millions of years before the visual aspect of the first recognise mammal : ashrew - similar creaturethat know about 160 million years ago in what is nowChina , experts say Live Science in 2011 .
The new study was write online today ( Oct. 5 ) in thejournal PLOS ONE .
Original article onLive Science .
