Oldest species of tree-climbing reptile discovered in New Mexico

Oldest species of tree-climbing reptile discovered in New Mexico
A rendering of Ecoscansor, the oldest-known tree-climbing reptile discovered in New Mexico, in its native, tropical habitat.

A little lizard took its to start with climb on a tree in what was as soon as a tropical island forest in New Mexico.

It was a climb that hundreds of millions of years afterwards would drastically alter what was identified about the evolution of reptiles.

Soon after that lizard died it was fossilized in the filth and soil of that forest, the ocean dried out and still left behind the arid, mountainous desert right now regarded to determine the landscape of northern New Mexico.

More:Native flower extinct in New Mexico could be introduced again by means of federal protections

Named Eoscansor by the experts who uncovered it – from Greek roots “eo” for dawn and “scansor” for climber – the reptile was located among the the exposed rocks close to Chama, together New Mexico’s border to Colorado.