A new species of basilisk (or so-called Jesus lizard, named so for their ability to walk on water) that lived about 48 million years ago during Eocene, the second epoch of the Paleogene period, has been identified from a fossil found in the Bridger Formation in Wyoming.

Specimen of Babibasiliscus alxi: photographs in right lateral, dorsal, and ventral views. Image credit: Jack Conrad.

The prehistoric creature, named Babibasiliscus alxi, belongs to a lizard family called Corytophanidae (also known as casquehead or helmeted lizards). The evolutionary history of this group remains poorly understood, due to the small number of fossils available for study.

Modern casquehead lizards live in an area stretching from southern Mexico to northern South America, flourishing in the higher temperatures found at the equator.

According to Dr Jack Conrad from NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine and the American Museum of Natural History, author of the study published in the journal PLoS ONE, Babibasilscus alxi may represent the earliest clear member of Corytophanidae.

“A new fossil corytophanid from the Bridger Formation represents the sister-taxon to extant Laemanctus,” Dr Conrad wrote in the PLoS ONE paper.

“Although modern corytophanids are restricted to Central and South America, I posit that the group had a Euramerican/Laurasian origin and became restricted to lower latitudes after post-Eocene global cooling.”

Measuring two feet (60 cm) long, the lizard was likely active during the day and spent a lot of time in trees. A ridge of bone on the skull gave it an angry look while providing shade for its eyes.

Each small tooth had three points suitable for eating snakes, lizards, fish, insects and plants, but with a fairly large cheekbone, Babibasiliscus alxi may have enjoyed larger prey items as well.

The lizard may have skimmed the surfaces of lush, watery habitats in Wyoming, which at the time probably had a climate matching today’s tropics.

“Along with Geiseltaliellus from roughly coeval rocks in central Europe, the new find further documents the tropical fauna present during greenhouse conditions in the northern mid-latitudes approximately 50 million years ago.”

“Given our current period of global climate fluctuation, looking to the fossil record offers an important opportunity to observe what is possible, and may give us an idea of what to expect from our dynamic Earth,” Dr Conrad said.

Source: sci.news