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Sunday, 14 July 2013
Joba Bamiro at 21:45
23 Million Year-Old Lizard
Found In Mexico
A beautiful gem or a scientist’s dream? You
can have both, as researchers in Mexico
recently discovered after finding the
remains of a 23-million-year-old lizard fossil,
well preserved with soft tissue samples, in a
small piece of amber.
Amber often contains small remains of
plants and animals, but it is rare to find
complete vertebrates such as this lizard.
While it’s currently too early to confirm the
small lizard’s species, preliminary
examination suggests the important
specimen might be a new species
belonging to the genus Anolis. This means
that the little guy may provide an invaluable
opportunity to learn more about an
evolutionarily important and impressively
adaptive species.
After all, Anolis lizards have fascinated
scientists for years, and have provided
researchers with an on-the-ground look at
evolutionary processes at work. In 2012, a
study involving brown anole lizards in the
Bahamas was heralded for its
documentation of natural selection,
according to LiveScience.
Considered an example of evolutionary
diversification, the Anolis genus
includes several hundred different
species that live across the Neotropics,
Nature notes. The lizards thrive in warmer
climates and are often outfitted with large
finger and toe pads, which help them climb
over a variety of surfaces quickly and
efficiently.
The Mexican fossil was found a few months
ago in Simojovel, an area of the
Mexicanstate of Chiapas well known for its
amber deposits.
The trapezoidal piece of amber is only
about 1.7 inches by 0.5 inches, but it
contains “a complete and articulated animal
that also preserves remains of soft tissue
and skin,” Francisco Riquelme of the
National Autonomous University of Mexico’s
Physics Institute told Spanish international
news agency EFE.
Chiapas’ Paleontology Museum director,
Gerardo Carbot, dated the remarkable fossil
back 23 million years through an
examination of the translucent, honey-
colored amber that encased it, EFE reports.
The lizard is now on display in Chiapas’
Amber Museum, located in nearby San
Cristóbal de las Casas.
As the BBC notes, amber is formed
when resin from a plant fossilizes after
becoming buried in sediment. The
substance can be a gold mine for
archeologists and paleontologists.
In large enough quantities, the viscous
substance can trap small creatures, insects
and even types of fragile flowers. But even
when this does happen, to find a specimen
this old with soft tissue remaining is rare,
according to the Associated Press.
The amber of Simojovel has contained
valuable samples in the past, according to
Popular Science — including a pair of
fossilized flowers that will be presented
during this year’s international Botany
Conference at the end of July.
Some of the most striking amber fossils
discovered around the world in recent
months include a 100-million-year-old
spider attack, and a trio of 230-million-year-
old insects discovered in Italy.