Let’s do an experiment: go and look at the skeleton of a chicken and try to think you have to reconstruct the animal in full starting only from fossilized bones. You would probably forget pieces: for example the barglies, those appendages of meat that are very hardly preserved in the fossil record.
It is a problem widespread in paleontology: the almost impossibility of preserving soft tissues means that it is complicated to reconstruct exactly the shape of an animal alive. Every now and then, however, luck helps us: on the border between Switzerland and Italy, on Mount San Giorgio (one of the richest fossil deposits in Europe), a fossilized marine reptile was found so well that soft tissues are still seen. Is a Lariosaurus And now we know several more things about him and his habits. The discovery is told about Swiss Journal of Paleontology.
Italian pride. As the name suggests, Lariosaurus It is (also) an Italian pride. The first fossils of this marine reptile lived in the Triassic (together with the others of his family, the notosauri) were in fact found among the Calcari del Perledo, on Lake Como, known once like Lario, in fact. Even the species to which the fossil belongs refers to our country: Lariosaurus valceresii In fact, he was found for the first time near Viggiù, in Valceresio. The one found on Mount San Giorgio is the first discovered in Switzerland, and like other specimens of the same species it is particularly well preserved.
Soft fabrics. Compared to the average, however, it is not only its skeleton to be preserved: the found fossil still retains the signs of the skin, preserved in the form of a thin carbon layer that highlights the shape of the flakes that covered the body of this marine reptile. Not only that: his skin also allowed us to discover that he had his legs palmate, who needed to swim better.
Miniature monster. Another feature that can be deduced from the remains of the skin is that this reptile had very powerful muscles on the rear legs: combined with the “palmature”, they suggest that Lariosaurus He used the rear legs to give himself the push during swimming, a bit like modern seals do (not surprisingly, the notosauri are also known as “Funds of the Triassic”. The discovery of this swimming technique also forces us to reject the theory that the main push for these reptiles came from the tail: the rear legs were equally important.
“Personal data”. As for the age, the fossil of Lariosaurus dates back to 240 million years ago. On the dimensions, however, we must give you a disappointment: this marine reptile was among the smaller notosaurs, and probably reached the length meter (Nothosaurusone of his relatives, came four meters).