Reptile Embryos
New fossil discovery in China stuns Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution acting through “slight successive changes.” An international team led by geologist Ryosuke Motani from the University of California, Davis, published a paper in the PLOS journal earlier this month on new evidence of reptile embryos that challenges previous evolution paradigms.
Bordering on the Yangtze River in eastern China, just north of Chaohu City, Motani’s team discovered by accident what is thought to be the oldest known reptile. While working systematically through a slab of entombed fossils looking for a ray-finned fish known as Saurichthys, the workers accidentally fractured the slab.
Clues from fossilized mating turtles (pictured left) point to an enormous and sudden geological event. In last week’s edition of 