11-Million-Year-Old Complete Skull of Worm Lizard Discovered In Spain

Researchers discovered a complete skull of an 11-million-year-old Mediterranean worm lizard in Spain.

The well preserved 11.3 millimeters long skull of a worm lizard was discovered by Arnau Bolet and colleagues from Institut Catala de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelon. It is a new species called 'Blanus mendezi', reports Phys.Org.

The 11. 6 million years old skull and the partial vertebrae discovered is the most complete fossil of this genus from the Middle Miocene. It is the oldest known species of worm lizard discovered in Europe in the Valles-Penedes Basin, Catatonia, in the Iberian Peninsula, reports Examiner.

Dr. Bolet said, "The use of CT-scan techniques applied to this superbly preserved worm lizard fossil skull has allowed an unprecedentedly detailed description for an early member of the family, providing insights into the evolutionary history of this poorly known group of reptiles."

Worm lizards belong to suborder Amphisbaenia and are limbless burrowing lizards with elongated bodies.  Though they are widely distributed, most of them thrive in the Arabian Peninsula, Africa and South America. 

These scaled reptiles are categorized in the genus Blanus in the Mediterranean.  Till date only isolated fossilized fragments of the worm lizards has been found in Europe due to which not much is known is about the evolution of these species.

Using the fossil and available molecular, paleontological and biogeographical data, the researchers confirmed that the general configuration of the skull and the teeth match the extant Blanus B mendezi- the oldest record of Western Mediterranean clade.

According to the researchers, it is the split between the Eastern and Western Mediterranean extant groups of blanids that gave rise to the new species.

The finding is documented in the journal PLOS One.