STATES CHRONICLE – As you probably know, although scientists have managed to uncover many great mysteries related to dinosaurs, there are still many missing links in the evolution of species as many “family members” have not been found yet.

As of recently, another missing link was found. It is represented by a 250 million-year-old fossil of a reptile. Scientists named it fierce lizard or Teyujagua. Many million years ago, a morbid event dubbed “The Great Dying” happened on Earth. What happened precisely was that a great part of the life on our planet underwent extinction.

Paleontologists managed to discover the skull of a reptile from those times, which is supposed to have survived the massive extinction and be the missing link in the evolution if the great dinosaurs. Of course, the small lizard is not linked only to dinosaurs but also to some bird species and reptilian species roaming the Earth nowadays.

It is as if the small reptile is the mother of all beings that came after. The Teyujagua was discovered in the southern part of Brazil, and the scientists are surprised it managed to survive the great extinction and such harsh times. And when we say it was the mother of all we are not exaggerating as the researchers discovered links between the small lizard and T-Rex but also a link between the reptile and hummingbirds.

The researchers were not exactly looking for it but simply happened to stumble upon it (literally, one of the paleontologists tripped on a rock containing the fossils). Coming upon such a great discovery, the scientists believe the 250 million-year-old site shows promise and are continuing excavations, hoping to find other species which might shed light on that period.

Besides, the fossils could prove to be, just as this one, a missing piece of the great evolutionary puzzle, which could help us figure out how animals evolved.

The Teyujagua has very different anatomy from other lizards. This uniqueness in features convinced the scientists the reptile was one of the missing links and also one of the only survivors of the great extinctions, which basically repopulated our planet.

Let’s hope the excavations at the ancient site will bring out even more missing links and uniquely structured 250 million years old fossils.

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