Tiny Triassic Jaw Reframes Early Lizards' Family Tree

A micro-sized Late Triassic jaw fossil of Cargninia enigmatica from southern Brazil preserves 12 teeth (likely up to 18) and, via micro-CT, reveals trigeminal nerve patterns resembling living lepidosaurs. Large phylogenetic analyses consistently place Cargninia as a non-lepidosaur lepidosauromorph, suggesting it predates true lepidosaurs and helps illuminate the early evolution of lizards and their relatives; the find dates to about 225 million years ago and was described online July 4, 2026 in The Anatomical Record.