In a major turn of events, scientists in Brazil announced a ground-breaking discovery of one of the world’s oldest fossils.
As per Reuters, these fossils are believed to belong to an ancient reptile that dates back some 237 million years.
The reptile named Gondwanax paraisensis, the four-legged reptile species was approximately the size of a small dog with a long tail, or about 1 meter (39 inches) long and weighing between 3 and 6 kg (7 to 13 pounds).
Scientists said in a statement, "Understanding the characteristics of these precursors could shed light on what was crucial for the dinosaurs' evolutionary success."
The fossils have been identified as a new silesaurid, an extinct family of Triassic dinosauriforms.
It is most commonly considered to be a clade of non-dinosaur dinosauriforms, and the sister group of dinosaurs.
Physician Pedro Lucas Porcela Aurelio found the fossil in the town of Paraiso do Sul in Brazil's southernmost Rio Grande do Sul state in 2014 and then donated it to a local university.
He said, "Being the first human to touch something from 237 million years ago is extraordinary. It's an indescribable feeling.”
This discovery is detailed in paleontologist Rodrigo Temp Müller’s article, which was published last month in the scientific journal Gondwana Research.
