'Lizard King' fossil shows giant reptiles coexisted with mammals during globally warm past

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://newsroom.unl.edu/releases/2013/06/04/%27Lizard+King%27+fossil+shows+giant+reptiles+coexisted+with+mammals+during+globally+warm+past

[font face=Serif][font size=5]'Lizard King' fossil shows giant reptiles coexisted with mammals during globally warm past[/font]

Released on 06/04/2013, at 7:05 PM
Office of University Communications
University of Nebraska–Lincoln

[font size=3]Lincoln, Neb., June 4th, 2013 — Some 40 million years before rock singer Jim Morrison's lyrics earned him the moniker "the Lizard King," an actual king lizard roamed the hot tropical forests of Southeast Asia, competing with mammals for food and other resources.

A team of U.S. paleontologists, led by Jason Head of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, describes fossils of the giant lizard from Myanmar this week in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Their analysis shows that it is one of the biggest known lizards ever to have lived on land.

The creature's scientific name is Barbaturex morrisoni -- which means "Lizard King," in honor of the aforementioned Doors singer.

At almost six feet long and weighing upwards of 60 pounds, the lizard provides new and important clues on the evolution of plant-eating reptiles and their relationship to global climate and competition with mammals.

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[eppur_se_muova]

1. Um ... this is smaller than living Komodo dragons.

Last edited Wed Jun 5, 2013, 08:39 AM - Edit history (1)

60 pounds is not much of a "giant" anything, at least for vertebrates.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/3046.shtml

There is an arboreal lizard in New Guinea which is larger than this. Look out below!