近日，英国布里斯托大学Benton, Michael J.团队研究了已知最古老的鳞龙和鳞龙摄食适应性的起源。这一研究成果于2025年9月10日发表在《自然》杂志上。

鳞龙是陆地脊椎动物中物种最丰富的一类。这一类群包括大约12000种蜥蜴和蛇（Squamata），以及一种颈头动物（Rhynchocephalia），即来自新西兰的tuatara Sphenodon。鳞片动物的成功归功于它们通常较小的体型，但也归功于它们高度机动的头骨，这使它们能够操纵大型猎物。蜥蜴和蛇头骨的这些关键特征在蝶龙身上没有发现，这使得了解它们共同祖先的本质变得很重要。鳞翅目恐龙起源于2.52亿至2.01亿年前的三叠纪，但由于化石不完整，出现了混淆，其中许多是广义的鳞翅目动物，既不是鳞片类动物，也不是喙头类动物。

研究组报道了一个相当完整的头骨和骨骼，来自英国德文郡中三叠纪（阿尼西期）赫尔斯比砂岩组的一个确定的流纹头类恐龙，比目前已知的最古老的鳞片龙早约300万至700万年。正如预测的那样，新物种显示出一个不可移动的头骨，但有一个开放的下颞杆，没有大的腭齿，它似乎是一种专门捕食昆虫的动物。该标本有助于人们了解作为三叠纪革命的一部分的鳞翅目最初的多样化，当时出现了现代风格的陆地生态系统。

附：英文原文

Title: The oldest known lepidosaur and origins of lepidosaur feeding adaptations

Author: Marke, Daniel, Whiteside, David I., Sethapanichsakul, Thitiwoot, Coram, Robert A., Fernandez, Vincent, Liptak, Alexander, Newham, Elis, Benton, Michael J.

Issue&Volume: 2025-09-10

Abstract: The Lepidosauria is the most species-rich group of land-dwelling vertebrates. The group includes around 12,000 species of lizards and snakes (Squamata) and one species of Rhynchocephalia, the tuatara Sphenodon punctatus from New Zealand1. Squamates owe their success to their generally small size, but also to their highly mobile skull that enables them to manipulate large prey. These key features of lizard and snake skulls are not seen in Sphenodon, which makes it important to understand the nature of their common ancestor. Lepidosaurs originated in the Triassic 252–201million years ago, but confusion has arisen because of incomplete fossils, many of which are generalized lepidosauromorphs, neither squamates nor rhynchocephalians2,3,4,5. Here we report a reasonably complete skull and skeleton of a definitive rhynchocephalian from the Middle Triassic (Anisian) Helsby Sandstone Formation of Devon, UK that is around 3–7million years older than the oldest currently known lepidosaur. The new species shows, as predicted, a non-mobile skull but an open lower temporal bar and no large palatine teeth, and it seems to have been a specialized feeder on insects. This specimen helps us understand the initial diversification of Lepidosauria as part of the Triassic Revolution, when modern-style terrestrial ecosystems emerged.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09496-9

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09496-9