Scientists Discover Prehistoric Saber-Toothed Predator That
Predates Dinosaurs

Madrid, 17 Dec (ONA) — Researchers have discovered the
oldest gorgonopsian fossil on Mallorca, a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea, dating from 270-280 million years ago.
This therapsid, a saber-toothed predator, offers new insights into the
evolutionary lineage leading to mammals.

About 200 million years ago, the first true mammals emerged
during the age of dinosaurs. However, their origins can be traced back even
further to a group called therapsids. While many therapsids bore little
resemblance to modern mammals, they shared key traits that would define
mammalian evolution. These included openings on the sides of their skulls for
jaw muscle attachment and specialized jawbones, which eventually evolved into
the distinctive middle ear bones seen in mammals today.

In a new study published today in Nature Communications,
scientists announced the discovery of what could be the oldest known therapsid
fossil. This ancient predator, resembling a dog with saber-like teeth, offers a
new glimpse into the distant origins of mammal evolution.

The new fossil, which doesn’t have a species name yet, is a
member of a group called the gorgonopsians. “Gorgonopsians are more closely
related to mammals than they are to any other living animals,” said Ken
Angielczyk, the Field Museum’s MacArthur Curator of Paleomammalogy in the
Negaunee Integrative Research Center and a co-author of the paper. “They don’t
have any modern descendants, and while they’re not our direct ancestors,
they’re related to species that were our direct ancestors.”

Until now, the oldest known gorgonopsians lived roughly 265
million years ago. However, the new fossil is from 270-280 million years ago.
“It is most likely the oldest gorgonopsian on the planet,” said Josep Fortuny,
senior author of the article and head of the Computational Biomechanics and
Evolution of Life History group at the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel
Crusafont (ICP) in Spain.

The fossils were found in Mallorca. But in the time of the gorgonopsians, Mallorca was part of
the supercontinent of Pangea.

The fact that this gorgonopsian predates its closest
relatives by tens of millions of years changes scientists’ understanding of
when therapsids evolved, an important milestone on the way to the emergence of
mammals, and in turn it tells us something about where we come from.

—Ends/Thuraiya/KH