China Fossil Reveals 245-Million-Year-Old Reptile With Intact Digestive System
Updated
Updated · New Scientist · Jul 29
China Fossil Reveals 245-Million-Year-Old Reptile With Intact Digestive System
3 articles · Updated · New Scientist · Jul 29
Summary
Austronaga minuta, a 60-centimetre marine predator found in Yunnan in 2023, is the oldest reptile ever identified with an intact digestive system.
The fossil preserves nearly the full skeleton plus the stomach, liver and intestines, with blood vessels and scales from a partially digested fish still visible.
Researchers say the Triassic reptile was an archosaur—not a dinosaur—and likely swam with its tail, used front flippers for steering and its long neck to catch fish.
The specimen suggests the basic reptilian digestive layout has changed little in 245 million years, with the same straight, simple intestines seen in many modern predatory reptiles.
Scientists called the preservation exceptional but noted the organs survive only in two dimensions, unlike a 380-million-year-old fish fossil that still holds the oldest known vertebrate organs.