Overview

• The fossil is the oldest marine reptile found in the Southern Hemisphere, dating back 246 million years.
• It was discovered in New Zealand and identified as a nothosaur, a type of sauropterygian marine reptile.
• This finding suggests that nothosaurs originated near the equator and rapidly spread globally after a mass extinction event.
• The discovery pushes back the timeline of sauropterygian fossils in the Southern Hemisphere by over 40 million years.
• Researchers believe more fossils are waiting to be discovered, which could further illuminate early marine reptile migration routes.