Paleontologists discover rare fossils of a Cretaceous-era lizard near Grande Prairie, Alta. | 24CA News

Not removed from the financial institution of Wapiti River, simply 11 kilometres from Grande Prairie, there is a paleontological goldmine: an historical riverbed that comprises fragments of skeletons of a whole bunch, presumably hundreds, of animals from the late Cretaceous interval, some 70 million years in the past. 

Discovered in 2014,  the bonebed is named a DC web site, or, extra formally, Wapiti Unit 3.

It yields a variety of fossils and enamel from many species of prehistoric vertebrates, stated Corwin Sullivan, a University of Alberta paleontologist who does fieldwork in Grande Prairie.

“We have small dinosaur material from there. We have mammal teeth, we have turtles, we have a few crocodilian teeth, we have fish material,” he stated. 

In this bonebed, paleontologists discovered stays of a comparatively small prehistoric lizard — a sort of animal whose fossils are discovered occasionally.

The discovery permits researchers to color a extra correct image of the biota within the Grande Prairie space some 70 million years in the past. The findings had been first described in a paper revealed in Geosciences in November. 

In the DC web site, paleontologists found an ankle bone and a cranium bone on two consecutive days, July 28 and 29 in 2017. The ankle bone did not inform researchers a lot, however the cranium bone allowed them to establish it as a lizard, because of the bony knobs fused with the highest of the cranium, known as osteoderms. 

Smaller fossils discovered occasionally

Most of the time when paleontologists discover fossils, they arrive from bigger animals, similar to dinosaurs, Vavrek stated. Their bones are extra sturdy and have a tendency to protect “a bit better,” stated Matthew Vavrek, a Grande Prairie paleontologist who co-authored the paper. Big fossils are additionally simply simpler to see. 

Smaller animals, similar to lizards, turtles and crocodiles performed necessary roles within the prehistoric ecosystem, Vavrek stated, however as a result of their bones are smaller and did not protect almost in addition to bones of larger animals, we now have poor information of them. 

This hinders our understanding of what the pure world seemed like at the moment. 

“It’s important to appreciate that ancient ecosystems, like our modern ones, have animals of a variety of different sizes,” stated James Gardner, a paleoherpetologist with the Royal Tyrrell Museum who was not concerned within the analysis. 

“If you were to go out into a modern day environment here in Alberta, and only look at the larger animals, you get things like bison and elk, some of the bigger birds, some of the bigger fish,” he stated.

“But you’d be missing all the the small mammals, the birds, the frogs, the snakes — all those that are important parts of the ecosystems.” 

Ancient lizard has trendy cousins 

The lizard belongs to a gaggle of animals known as Monstersauria. It may very well be much like a modern-day monitor lizard in look, Vavrek stated. The lizard was about one metre in size, Sullivan stated. Sullivan can be one of many research’s co-authors.  

The lizard occupied an ecological area of interest resembling that of similarly-sized animals immediately, consuming small prey, together with small mammals, whose fossils had been discovered within the Wapiti formation, Vavrek stated. 

Gila monster, a venomous lizard that resides within the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, is a residing member of the Monstersauria group. A desert-dwelling animal, it would not tolerate cool temperatures very properly. 

It’s prehistoric relative, however, was rather more tailored to a considerably cooler local weather, Gardner stated, although it was nonetheless hotter than immediately. The local weather was additionally extra “equitable,” Sullivan stated, with lesser temperature gradient between the poles and the equator. The fossils discovered symbolize the northernmost file of any definitive late Cretaceous monstersaur up to now, the paper states. 

Finding the cranium bone is itself helpful, Sullivan stated. 

“Having a relatively complete one is actually kind of exceptional and special.” 

“There’s just a bit of wow factor associated with this large, unusual lizard that’s related to the modern Gila monster.” 

Sullivan footage the realm the place the lizard lived as a “wet, swampy forest.” Collecting extra fossil vegetation from the location will assist scientists additional perceive the surroundings within the Cretaceous Grande Prairie, he stated. 

“It hasn’t really been an area of focus up to now, and I think it should be, given the paleo-environmental importance of of the flora.”