220 Million-Year-Old Species Of Burrowing Reptile Discovered In Arizona

Scientists say that they are a cross between a chameleon and an aardvark.

Paleontology summer interns had joined forces from a number of different universities to find something interesting in Arizona.

They were at Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park when they discovered the 220 million-year-old burrowing reptile, a new species!

They are calling the new species, Skybalonyx skapter, which is a type of drepanosaur. After being discovered, the fossils were analyzed by researchers from Virginia Tech, the University of Washington, Idaho State University, Arizona State University, Virginia Museum of Natural History, and the Petrified Forest National Park.

You can find the announcement in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, according to AP News, and it is also reported on in the National Park Service website.

Drepanosaurs have enlarged second claws and are part of a group of ancient reptiles. Their tails also ended in a claw and they had beaks like a bird. Scientists say that they are a cross between a chameleon and an aardvark.

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