August 13, 2019 | Glendale, AZ
Holotype specimen of Clevosaurus hadroprodon. Photograph (a) and schematic drawing (b) of MMACR PV-027-T. Photograph (c) and schematic drawing (d) of additional jaw material (MMACR PV-028-T)
Research co-authored by Randall Nydam, Ph.D., and published in Scientific Reports describes Clevosaurus hadroprodon, a new reptile species from Rio Grande do Sul state in southern Brazil. Its fossils remains--jaws and associated skull bones--were collected from Triassic rocks (c. 237-228 million-years old) making it the oldest known fossil of its kind in Gondwana, the southern supercontinent that would eventually become Africa, Antarctica, Australia, India, and South America.