Researchers in Tunisia have discovered the fossil of the world’s largest worm lizard that lived 50 million years ago during the Eocene epoch. They discovered the fossil during a recent fieldwork in the Djebel Chambi National Park, Tunisia, in North Africa. The international researchers named itTerastiodontosaurus marcelosanchez.
With their skull measuring over five centimeters, these enormous creatures are the largest known members of the Amphisbaenia group. The researchers also found out that these giant worm lizards were surface dwellers, and had remarkable dental adaptations, including powerful jaws and specialized tooth enamel, which enabled them to eat snails, by crushing their shells. “Size estimates show that Terastiodontosaurus was the largest known amphisbaenian ever to have lived, with an estimated skull length of >5 cm. Based on new muscle data of Trogonophis, we estimate very high bite forces for Terastiodontosaurus, which would allow it to crush a wide variety of snails,” the study said.
An international team led by Prof. Dr. Georgios L. Georgalis from the Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals at the Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, with researchers from the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum in Frankfurt, the Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution de Montpellier, the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris, and the National Office of Mines in Tunis, has now described a previously unknown fossil species from the group of worm lizards in a new study.
According to the researchers, the world’s largest worm lizard is related to the modern-day checkerboard worm lizard. Terastiodontosaurus marcelosanchez has a length likely exceeding 3 feet.
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According to the researchers, the world’s largest worm lizard looked straight out of a sci-fi movie. “Visually, you can imagine the animal as a ‘sandworm’ from the ‘Dune’ science fiction novels and their movie adaptation. Based on the tooth structure and the unusually thick enamel, we can deduce that the animals had enormous muscle strength in their jaws,” Dr. Georgios L. Georgalis, the research head said in a recent press release.
“We know that today’s checkerboard worm lizards like to eat snails by breaking open their shells. We can now assume that this lineage specialized in feeding on snails over 56 million years ago and could crack them open effortlessly with their powerful jaws. This feeding strategy is therefore extremely consistent – it has defied all environmental changes and accompanies the lineage to this day” Georgalis added.
Credit: Jaime Chirinos
