Lizard fossil found in Scotland shows 'evolution in action'

An artist's version of what the lizard looked like

A tiny, 166-million-year-old fossil lizard found in Scotland is helping shed light on how reptiles came into existence.

The complete, well-preserved remains of the 6cm-long creature, which lived during the age of dinosaurs, was discovered in the Isle of Skye in 2016.

The creature is called Bellairsia gracilis, it belongs to a wider animal group known as squamate reptiles.

The fossil is a near-complete skeleton, and researchers say it's the most complete fossil lizard of this age anywhere in the world - the only sections missing are its snout and tail.

This image shows how small the fossil was

Dr Elsa Panciroli of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and National Museums Scotland, who discovered the fossil, said: "It was one of the first fossils I found when I began working on Skye.

"The little black skull was poking out from the pale limestone, but it was so small I was lucky to spot it.

The tiny lizard is just one of several new fossil discoveries from the island, including early amphibians and mammals.

They are revealing evolution of important animal groups that are still around today.

Since it was found scientists have been studying it carefully and recently published their research in the journal Nature.

They used an imaging technique known as CT scan - usually used by medical professionals to obtain internal images of the body - to reconstruct the skeleton.

The scans allowed the researchers to examine the creature in even greater detail, including the skull, hindlimbs and pelvis.

They have said their findings, could help in "filling gaps in our understanding of evolution and the history of life on Earth".

Dr Mateusz Talanda is the first author on the study, said: In palaeontology, you rarely have the opportunity to work with such complete, well-preserved fossils coming from a time about which we know so little."

Study co-author Professor Susan Evans, of UCL, first described and named the species based on a few jaw and skull bones from Oxfordshire 25 years ago.

It was named after Angus Bellairs, a lizard embryologist - who she thinks would have been would have been delighted with the discovery.

She said: "It is wonderful to have a complete specimen of this tantalising little lizard, and to see where it fits in the evolutionary tree.

"Through fossils like Bellairsia we are gaining a better understanding of early lizard anatomy."