Researchers from the Universities of Tübingen and Zaragoza have found the fossil of a beforehand unknown species, which they’ve named Vishnuonyx neptuni, that means ‘Neptune’s Vishnu’. The species was found from a 11.4-million-year-old strata within the space of Hammerschmiede, which is a fossil website in Bavaria, Germany that has been studied for about 50 years, the College of Tübingen mentioned in a press launch.

The dispersal of Vishnuonyx otters from the Indian subcontinent to Africa and Europe about 13 million years in the past. The star (HAM 4) reveals the place of the fossil website in Hammerschmiede. (Nikos Kargopoulos by way of College of Tübingen)

That is the primary discovery of any member of the Vishnuonyx genus in Europe; it’s also its most northern and western report until date.

Vishnuonyx had been mid-sized predators that weighed, on common, 10-15 kg. Earlier than this, the genus was recognized solely in Asia and Africa (latest findings present that Vishnuonyx reached East Africa about 12 million years in the past, in response to the discharge).

Vishnuonyx trusted water and couldn’t journey lengthy distances over land. How did it journey so far as Europe? In keeping with the researchers, its travels over 6,000 km had been most likely made attainable by the geography of 12 million years in the past, when the Alps had been lately shaped. These Alps and the Iranian Elbrus Mountains had been separated by a big ocean basin, which might have made it simpler for the otters to cross it.

Researchers consider ‘Neptune’s Vishnu’ first reached southern Germany, adopted by Historical Guenz and finally, the Hammerschmiede.

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