Knowledge Nugget of the day: Gondwanax paraisensis

Subject: Geography

(Relevance: UPSC has asked questions connected caller discoveries successful its examinations. For instance, successful 2019, a question about  the ‘Denisovan’ appeared successful the Prelims. Therefore, it is important to enactment updated connected discoveries that are presently successful the news.)

Why successful the news?

Scientists person discovered a fossil of a reptile taxon called Gondwanax paraisensis in confederate Brazil. The fossils of this recently discovered reptile taxon could supply insights into the emergence of dinosaurs. Gondwanax paraisensis is astir 237 cardinal years old, making it 1 of the oldest reptile fossils ever found.  

Key Takeaways :

1. The Gondwanax paraisensis was a small, four-legged reptile, astir the size of a tiny dog. It measured astir 1 metre (39 inches) agelong and weighed betwixt 3 to 6 kg (7 to 13 pounds). This reptile apt lived successful what is present southern Brazil during the Triassic period, a clip erstwhile the Earth was overmuch hotter.

2. The find was published successful the diary Gondwana Research past month. According to paleontologist Rodrigo Temp Müller, who led the study, the fossil’s property is key. “Because it’s truthful old, it helps america recognize however dinosaurs archetypal appeared,” helium said.

3. The discovered fossil belongs to a radical of extinct reptiles called silesaurids. Interestingly, determination is nary statement among scientists connected whether silesaurids were existent dinosaurs oregon a taxon that came earlier them. A survey of this recently discovered taxon could assistance successful knowing what traits made dinosaurs truthful successful.

4. The fossil was primitively discovered successful 2014 by Pedro Lucas Porcela Aurelio. He donated it to a assemblage successful 2021, starting 3 years of research.

5. The sanction Gondwanax means “lord of Gondwana,” referring to the confederate portion of the supercontinent Pangaea. The taxon sanction paraisensis honors the municipality of Paraiso bash Sul wherever the fossil was found.

On October 19th, 2024, the Google Doodle celebrated the find and statement of Staurikosaurus. The find of Staurikosaurus has helped paleontologists amended recognize the aboriginal improvement of dinosaurs.

BEYOND THE NUGGET: Gondwana, Laurasia and  India’s tryst with dinosaurs

6. In the Paleozoic era, Gondwana and Laurasia formed the supercontinent of Pangaea. Here galore dinosaurs lived and went extinct, and their remains were ensconced successful lava.

7. Gondwanaland got cracked up astatine the extremity of the Jurassic epoch to make each our confederate continents, Africa, Australia, and South America, arsenic good arsenic New Zealand, the Indian subcontinent, and the land of Madagascar, which has agelong been an country of study.

Dinosaurs and India

8. India has been a hotspot for uncovering dinosaur fossils for decades. Veteran geologist Ashok Sahni told The Indian Express that dinosaurs person been studied successful India for implicit 175 years successful 3 chiseled phases: the archetypal lasting astir 100 years until 1935, the 2nd “quieter” signifier that extended for the adjacent 20 years, and the signifier from the 1960s onward, which has seen reasonably progressive research.

9. Records amusement that dinosaurs successful India existed from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous — oregon betwixt 200 cardinal years and 65 cardinal years ago. 

10. Dinosaur remains person been recovered implicit the years successful Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. “More recently, they person been discovered successful Meghalaya and successful Pakistan, if you deliberation of the broader subcontinent,” Prof Sahni said.

11. One of the astir celebrated dinosaurs successful the state is Rajasaurus. Its fossils were archetypal recovered by GSI geologist Suresh Srivastava successful the 1980s. Teams from the American Institute of Indian Studies and the National Geographic Society, with the enactment of the Panjab University, spent years successful bid to reconstruct the excavated remains. In 2003, Rajasaurus was yet fixed its sanction by geologist Jeffrey A. Wilson, University of Michigan.

(Sources: Fossils successful the Backyard, Scientists observe fossil of pre-dinosaur reptile successful Brazil, DU researchers find implicit 250 fossilised eggs )

For your queries and suggestions constitute astatine roshni.yadav@indianexpress.com

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