Was Mesosaurus an aquatic animal? How do we know If an ancient species was aquatic or terrestrial?

Abstract

Mesosaurs are lizard-like reptiles that lived at the beginning of the Permian Period (280–290 million years ago) or even earlier. Mesosaurs are known from thousands of skeletons recovered in Uruguay, Brazil, and Southern Africa, including young and adult individuals and even an embryo and a pregnant female. For years, mesosaurs have been considered aquatic (water-living) animals, because they have several characteristics of species that are adapted to an aquatic life, like webbed hands and feet and the presence of thickened and compact bones. However, mesosaurs also share several features with terrestrial (land-living) species, such as the structure of the hips, the limbs, and the heels. To figure out whether mesosaurs are actually aquatic or terrestrial, we studied vertebral columns (backbones) of Mesosaurus and compared them to those of other aquatic and terrestrial animals. Studying the variations in the length of the vertebrae can reveal how the animals moved and whether they were adapted to terrestrial or aquatic environments. Surprisingly, we found that Mesosaurus is more similar to terrestrial animals, which changes our ideas about their lifestyle.