Hi-tech scanning of an ancient fossil, which was captured in sandstone around 252-254 million years ago, is giving experts valuable insight into the animal’s anatomy and evolution.
The pig-like, tusked animal, which belonged to a species called Gordonia traquairi, lived in a time before the dinosaurs, when Earth was comprised of a single land mass known as Pangea.
It is from an extinct group of species known as dicynodonts, which are characterised by their squat bodies, beak and tusks.
These creatures lived relatively soon before the worst mass extinction event in history, the Great Dying, which occurred about 252 million years ago and eliminated much of life on Earth.
The specimen, known as the Elgin Marvel, is among the best preserved of a series of fossils collected close to Elgin in the north-east of Scotland. These are collectively called the Elgin Reptiles, even though some of them, such as Gordonia, are more closely related to mammals.
A team of experts led by the University of Edinburgh carried out micro-CT scans – high resolution, 3D imaging – of a cavity formed by the animal in a sandstone rock, before its bones degraded.
Their scans offer a three-dimensional representation of the anatomy of the skull, including details of the brain.
These insights can aid understanding of the animal’s likely behaviours and the biology underlying them, offering clues on the evolution of this and other species.
The animal shares many physical characteristics with similar fossils found in China, indicating that the dicynodonts were diversifying across the globe shortly before the cataclysmic Great Dying.
The Elgin Reptiles represent the only known example of this type of fossil in Western Europe.
Researchers hope that the increasing use of micro-CT scanning as a tool to examine fossils in detail, in combination with a trend towards open sharing of data, will offer opportunities to add to the body of knowledge in the discipline.
Hady George, currently of the University of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences, who led the study, said: “The Elgin Marvel is a fascinating fossil of an ancient mammal relative that is among the best preserved of the world-renowned Elgin Reptiles.
“These famous fossils were mostly found over a century ago, and it's only now that new technologies are allowing us to final reveal them in detail, and glean valuable insights into their skull and brain anatomy as well as their genealogy.”
Professor Steve Brusatte, Professor of Palaeontology and Evolution in the School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh, senior researcher in the study, said: “As hard as it is to imagine, around 250 million years ago Scotland was a desert covered in sand dunes, and primitive cousins of mammals such as Gordonia had dominion in this world. By studying them, we can learn about some of the earliest phases of our own evolution.”
The study was carried out in collaboration with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, the University of Birmingham, and the Hunterian Museum, and supported by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, the Swedish Research Council and the European Research Council.
Paper
‘Micro-CT data reveals new information on the craniomandibular and neuroanatomy of the dicynodont Gordonia (Therapsida: Anomodontia) from the late Permian of Scotland’ by Hady George et al. in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society [open access]