Researchers from the Federal University of Santa Maria identified the species Isodapedon varzealisherbivorous reptile around 230 million years old, based on a fossil found in 2020 in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
O Isodapedon varzealis belongs to the group of rincossauros, reptiles herbivorous quadrupeds that lived during the Triassic period. The animal was approximately 1.5 meters long and had a pointed beak.which he used to cut plants and dig roots.
The new species was presented by researchers from in the magazine
Kinship analysis revealed links with other fossils from the same period.
“One of the most interesting points of this study is that a kinship analysis found strong similarities between the species found in Brazil and another found in Scotland, another ricossauro of the same age, also discovered in Scotland”, stated Rodrigo Temp Muller, paleontologist at the Federal University of Santa Maria.
Preparing the fossil required several months of work due to the fragility of the material.
“In the case of the skull of ricossauroit took more than six months (to remove all the sediment from the fossil), precisely because it has more fragile areas. The region of the teeth, which for rincossauros is very important, it contains the characteristics necessary for identification at the species level”, he explained and Hee Schiefelbeinpaleontologist at UFSM.
The discovery increases the number of species of rincossauros identified in the Brazilian Triassic and indicates a period of great diversity in this group, at a time when the first dinosaurs began to appear.
The fossils of these animals still function as geological markers and help determine the age of the rock formations where they are found.
