An arboreal Permian synapsid

[Halichoeres]

Before squirrels and monkeys and tree shrews, synapsids produced an arboreal pelycosaur-grade animal: Ascendonanus nestleri.



This animal was related to Varanops, and has big hands and feet with long claws, suggesting a tree-climbing habit. It also has clear scales. It's not much, but it is a data point that helps bracket the point where synapsids lost their scales.

Paper (paywall): https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs12542-018-0405-9.pdf

[Jose S.M.]

That's a beautiful fossil, so well preserved.

[Patrx]

Wow, that soft-tissue preservation is astonishing!

[Faelrin]

An incredible fossil. Almost like it's still there (in the flesh). Also even though I saw the title I thought I was looking at a lizard, due to the general body shape.

[ImADinosaurRARR]

"There's a prehistoric critter that was recently announced called Ascendonanus. Yes, you read that correctly, Ascend-on-anus. How did this happen?"

RJ Palmer
‏@arvalis

FINALLY, THE URANUS OF PREHISTORY!!!

[Neosodon]

They look kind of lizard like. The article seems to imply convergence but is it at all possible that synapsids are descended from lizards?

[Lanthanotus]

Indeed one of the most beautiful fossils I saw and I aswell would have thought to look upon a lizard, after all, the whole body shape aswell as the scale structure makes it look like a recent tree monitor. On a glimpse just the toes are different and sure is the skull.

Unfortunately, the paper is not open access, as usual with springer. I am not sure about the writers of this article, but a hell lot of papers still appear in pay walled journals  while the work behind them was financed by public money..... it's a shame it ever came to this (and heck, that access to a single article is damn expensive, you could get a very decent print book for that money).

[Halichoeres]

"There's a prehistoric critter that was recently announced called Ascendonanus. Yes, you read that correctly, Ascend-on-anus. How did this happen?"

RJ Palmer
‏@arvalis

FINALLY, THE URANUS OF PREHISTORY!!!

I read it as "Ascend-onan-us." But never mind.

They look kind of lizard like. The article seems to imply convergence but is it at all possible that synapsids are descended from lizards?

It's very unlikely. The earliest amniotes were all quite lizardlike, and so were many of the earliest diapsids and synapsids. Proper lizards are in many respects quite derived but their body plan is plesiomorphic. The arrangement of jaw bones, tooth attachments, etc., do not support a relationship between lizards and this group of synapsids.

Indeed one of the most beautiful fossils I saw and I aswell would have thought to look upon a lizard, after all, the whole body shape aswell as the scale structure makes it look like a recent tree monitor. On a glimpse just the toes are different and sure is the skull.

Unfortunately, the paper is not open access, as usual with springer. I am not sure about the writers of this article, but a hell lot of papers still appear in pay walled journals  while the work behind them was financed by public money..... it's a shame it ever came to this (and heck, that access to a single article is damn expensive, you could get a very decent print book for that money).

My mistake; I must have had automatic access through the college I work at. I've amended the post to reflect that some may find a paywall. I agree that academic publishing is in most respects a gigantic scam.

[EmperorDinobot]

Absolutely brilliant!

[Libraraptor]

So cool! And it´s from Chemnitz, Germany. Frederik Spindler, palaeontologist and paleoartist is involved in the process of its examination, I think.
Have I read correctly that the fossil is supposed to somehow connect to Pterosaurs?!

[CityRaptor]

No, it's a Synapsid, therefore no connection to Pterosaurs. Although some of the first google results for it to come up are "Pterosaur Heresies" and "Reptile Evolution", which call it a lepidosaur. Of course both of those sites are junk.

[Halichoeres]

The paper has been peer-reviewed and published: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs12542-018-0405-9.pdf

Open access!

[Smilodon P.]

Thanks for the info.