On a quiet night millions of years ago, tiny lizards clung to life while the world burned. They were near the asteroid’s strike zone yet somehow made it through.
Ancient reptiles endured catastrophic asteroid impact
A new study shows night lizards lived around the Gulf of Mexico before and after the asteroid impact that ended the dinosaurs. The asteroid struck the Yucatán Peninsula 66 million years ago. Researchers say the reptiles are the only known land vertebrates to survive so close to the blast site and still inhabit the same region today.
The asteroid, about 12 kilometres wide, caused devastation across Earth. It triggered the Cretaceous-Palaeogene extinction, wiping out around 75 percent of all species. Yet two night lizard lineages persisted, even though they may have seen the fiery impact.
Why night lizards may have survived
Scientists believe their slow metabolism helped them endure food shortages. Night lizards grow just a few inches long and hide in rock crevices, dense vegetation, or beneath bark. These habitats may have shielded them from the worst effects.
Researchers traced the ancestry of three living genera of night lizards. Using DNA analysis, they found the reptiles’ most recent common ancestor lived around 90 million years ago. This means they had been in North and Central America long before the asteroid hit.
A rare survivor in the region
One lineage gave rise to species in the United States and Mexico, while another led to the Cuban night lizard. While other reptiles may have survived briefly, they later vanished from the region. Night lizards remain the only known group of land vertebrates still endemic to the area since the asteroid impact.
Lead author Chase Brownstein from Yale University said the species’ persistence makes them an important subject for studying survival during mass extinctions. Their quiet endurance offers clues about resilience in the face of planetary disaster.
The findings were published in the journal Biology Letters.
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