The Solnhofen Archipelago is a series of islands that existed during the Late Jurassic epoch in what is now Bavaria, Germany.
Life representation of Sphenodraco scandentis in the palaeoenvironment of the Solnhofen Archipelago. Image credit: Gabriel Ugueto.
Named Sphenodraco scandentis, the new species is the oldest known tree-dwelling member of a sister group of squamates (lizards, snakes, and worm lizards) called the Rhynchocephalia.
Currently represented by a single living species, the tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus), rhynchocephalians were once as widespread as lizards are today.
The fossilized specimen of Sphenodraco scandentis is divided into a main slab, which has been mentioned in the literature and previously assigned to Homoeosaurus maximiliani, and a counterslab containing most of its skeletal remains.
The two parts were sold separately almost a century ago to the museums in Frankfurt and London.
“The breakthrough came when I was researching fossil reptiles at the Natural History Museum, London,” said Victor Beccari, a Ph.D. student at the Palaeontological Museum, Munich.
“I noticed a curious similarity between a fossil in the Museum’s collection and one I’d studied at the Senckenberg Natural History Museum in Frankfurt.”
“It turned out they weren’t just similar, they were two halves of the same fossil, most likely split in half for higher returns when sold in the 1930s.”
The holotype of Sphenodraco scandentis. Left: the main slab, containing some bone remains and the imprint of the skeleton. Right: the counterslab, containing most of the skeletal remains. Image credit: Beccari et al., doi: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaf073.
Through a comparison with living lizards, including the tuatara, Beccari and colleagues determined that Sphenodraco scandentis had the same elongated limbs and fingers and shorter body as modern arboreal and gliding lizards leading them to believe it would have lived among the trees of Jurassic island forests.
“The closer you look at how these animals have been studied in the past, the more you appreciate that the species aren’t that well-defined,” Beccari said.
“We know that modern islands can have hundreds of species of reptiles, so there’s no reason that ancient islands wouldn’t too.”
“This study goes to show just how important museum collections are to understanding ancient diversity.”
“Even though many of these fossils were discovered almost two centuries ago, there’s still a lot they can teach us.”
“Although the area of Solnhofen has provided many beautiful complete skeletons of rhynchocephalians, their skulls are sometimes crushed or part of the skeleton are still buried in the rock,” said Dr. Marc Jones, curator of fossil reptiles and amphibians at the Natural History Museum, London.
“This has meant that, until recently, the Solnhofen material hasn’t contributed to our understanding as much as it should have.”
“Use of micro X-ray CT and in this case UV imaging has helped clarify anatomical details.”
“This new study also highlights the need to survey all the material available.”
The study was published on July 2, 2025 in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
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Victor Beccari et al. 2025. An arboreal rhynchocephalian from the Late Jurassic of Germany, and the importance of the appendicular skeleton for ecomorphology in lepidosaurs. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 204 (3): zlaf073; doi: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaf073
