A new study unveiled an ancient reptile Tanystropheus

A recent study has unveiled fresh details surrounding the Tanystropheus, a reptile that lived on Earth some 242 million years ago and had a remarkably elongated neck – longer than its body and tail combined.

Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2020

Key-Points

Tanystropheus are believed to have lived around the Monte San Giorgio basin on the Swiss-Italian border during the middle Triassic period (247-237 million years ago).

It is recognizable by its extremely elongated neck, which measured 3 m (9.8 ft) long—longer than its body and tail combined. The neck was composed of 12–13 extremely elongated vertebrae.

Its skull is specialized toward hunting in an aquatic environment. The animal is likely to have been aquatic most of the time, as its huge, stiff neck would have made survival on land difficult.