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19/09/04/074241 story

A New Reptile Species From Wales Named By Bristol Student

posted by janrinok on Wednesday September 04 2019, @02:02PM   
from the almost-unpronouncable dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

After resting for decades in the storerooms of the Natural History Museum in London, a fragmentary fossil from the Late Triassic (200 million years ago) has been named as a new species by a Masters' student at the University of Bristol.

Erin Patrick studied this creature for her MSc Palaeobiology dissertation research under the supervision of Professor Mike Benton and Dr. David Whiteside from Bristol's School of Earth Sciences.

The fossil is one of several novel species named from Pant-y-ffynnon Quarry in Wales. It was found in the 1950s but has been ignored since then because it was so tiny and hard to study. Most of the specimen is in two blocks of rock that fit together to form a lump that would sit on a child's hand. On the surface are small bones, but it revealed its treasures when it was scanned. While no skull is present, these blocks contain a number of vertebrae, ribs, one scapula, and tiny armor plates from its back.

Using CT scanning, these tiny bones (some mere millimeters wide and long) could be studied in three-dimensional detail, allowing Erin to examine fossils otherwise hidden in the rock.

When the fossil was found, its discoverers dubbed it "Edgar," but as a new species it has now been given the formal name Aenigmaspina pantyffynnonensis. The first part of the name refers to its enigmatic spine table, a feature of the vertebrae that supported the armor plates on the back. The second part of the name refers to Pant-y-ffynnon quarry in South Wales where it was found.

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Original Submission

• Panty(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 04 2019, @02:11PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 04 2019, @02:11PM (#889531)

  No, your panties are iffy.

• Comment Below Threshold

  reminder(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 04 2019, @03:22PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 04 2019, @03:22PM (#889560)

  It is things like this that make me proud everyday that my ancestors told you and your Island to fuck off.

• Whales are mammalsWhales are mammals (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 04 2019, @03:30PM (1 child)

  by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 04 2019, @03:30PM (#889561)

  Whales are mammals not reptiles...

  • Re:Whales are mammals(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Wednesday September 04 2019, @03:43PM

    by hemocyanin (186) on Wednesday September 04 2019, @03:43PM (#889567) Journal

    Yep. My first thought: hey wait, that's backwards.

    Parent

• partial skeleton?(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 04 2019, @03:33PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 04 2019, @03:33PM (#889562)

  All they have is part of the skeleton? Those Welsh will eat anything!

• Not exactly new(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday September 04 2019, @03:35PM

  by ikanreed (3164) on Wednesday September 04 2019, @03:35PM (#889564) Journal

  They appointed him prime minister like a week ago.

• Only one name will do...(Score: 2) by fadrian on Wednesday September 04 2019, @03:56PM

  by fadrian (3194) on Wednesday September 04 2019, @03:56PM (#889572) Homepage

  Reptiley McReptileyface

  --
  That is all.

• So how do you pronounce it?(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 05 2019, @12:46AM

  by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 05 2019, @12:46AM (#889763)

  As is always the question with Welsh names.