Question

The distribution of fossils of Mesosaurus, Cynognathus, and Lystrosaurus on landmasses that today are separated by wide expanses of ocean was cited as evidence for continental drift because?

1) these animals could not have swum across such large distances meaning that the landmasses in which their habitats existed must have been contiguous
2) these animals could not have survived on stationary continents
3) these animals require nutrients that are only produced near tectonic plate boundaries
4) these animals would have required a climate that is much colder than present in these landmasses today
5) of the magnetism preserved in the fossils

Answer 1

The presence of Mesosaurus, Cynognathus, and Lystrosaurus fossils on separate continents is evidence for continental drift since these animals, being poor swimmers, could not have crossed large oceans, indicating the continents were once connected.

Step-by-step explanation:

The shared distribution of fossils like Mesosaurus, Cynognathus, and Lystrosaurus across continents that are currently separated by vast oceans is a strong piece of evidence for continental drift. These fossils suggest that the landmasses where these creatures live must have been connected because these animals were very poor swimmers and could not have crossed such large distances. The early Mesozoic reptiles were adapted for life on land or in small bodies of water, not in the open ocean, and they reproduced by laying eggs on land, which underlines the impossibility of their distribution being due to crossing oceans.

Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift was supported by the presence of these fossils in South America and Africa, which were part of the supercontinent Pangaea. This suggests that these continents were once joined before the drifting apart that gave us our current geographical layout. This theory helped negate the improbable hypothesis that these poorly swimming reptiles could somehow have spread across the enormous oceans.