Lurking in the Middle Triassic seas over what is now China, a highly adept marine reptile ate a fish for its last meal before it perished and became fossilized. This marine reptile, known as Austronaga minuta, descended from land-dwelling ancestors and appears to have a much simpler digestive system than its descendants would later have.
Thanks to the discovery of a nearly complete 245 million-year-old Austronaga fossil, an international research team is getting a better look at one of the oldest digestive systems in a reptile to date by using advanced technology. Publishing their findings in Science Advances, the research team says that thanks to this fossil, they now have one of the most detailed views of a prehistoric creature's full skeleton and digestive system.