A dozen lizard fossils from the
Cretaceous period have been discovered in Myanmar, and scientists hope
they could offer clues about the Cretaceous period. These
99-million-year-old specimens that lay trapped in amber have been
preserved in “superb detail”.
Lizards neatly frozen in amber for 99 million years could offer a
glimpse of a “lost world”, say scientists. The ancient reptiles are the
oldest specimens to have been discovered so far. Their preservation is
absolutely amazing. Scientists studying the same have confirmed the
distinctive features like scales of skin, the tip of a tongue, and tiny
claws are observable.
The discovery of a dozen of these lizards, which stepped or fell into
sticky tree resin and couldn’t tear themselves loose in the forests
where the dinosaurs roamed, was made in Myanmar quite some time ago,
reported The Christian Science Monitor.
Over time, the resin hardened into amber, neatly preserving the tiny
lizards by converting them into fossils. It is the first time that all
the lizard specimens are under one roof.
Two of the fossils are related to modern-day chameleons and geckos, revealing how features such as sticky toe-pads evolved,
reported BBC.
The lizards had a free run of the tropical forests in what is now
Myanmar during the Mid-Cretaceous Period, shared the scientists who had
been studying them. The research has been
published in the journal
Science Advances. Speaking about the discovery, Dr. Edward Stanley of the Florida Museum of Natural History said,
“The fossilized amber provides a view into a lost world,
revealing that the tropics of the Mid-Cretaceous contained a diverse
lizard fauna. The assemblage is cool because it has some examples which
are really, really modern and then others which are really, really old,
and then others in between. “
The researchers noted there was a diverse population of lizards
living in the region at the time. The specimens display a wide variety,
offering a never before seen picture of the region. Interestingly, while
some of the lizards are remarkably similar to modern lizards – like
geckos, wall lizards, and dragon lizards – other specimens have never
been observed before, leading scientists to believe that many species of
the lizards went extinct, perhaps along with the dinosaurs after a
meteor hit about 64 million years ago.
One of the lizards appears to be a “transitional form,” shared Dr. Stanley,
“This ‘missing-link’ is roughly 80 million years older
than the next oldest chameleon fossil, and shows that features like the
chameleon’s projectile tongue were present deep in its ancestry. But its
strange fused toes (adaptations for climbing along branches) evolved
later.”
What he meant was one of the specimen appears to be a crucial link in
the evolutionary chain. Such specimens are extremely hard to come by,
and many times allow scientists to complete the puzzle that lay
unsolved. Interestingly, in the case of lizards, the lizard fossils were
discovered in Myanmar, but all of them were found at different times
and belonged to a diverse group of individuals.
These amber fossils have been painstakingly tracked and obtained by
private collectors, and they were acquired by museums in the U.S. It is
the first time that these specimens are being studied as a group,
research that could offer many clues about the Cretaceous period, shared
Juan Diego Daza of Sam Houston State University in Texas, who led the
research:
“They provide details of external morphology, which is
something that is pretty rare to find. These fossils represent most of
the diversity of lizards with a superb amount of detail. We can pretty
much see how the animals looked when they were alive. They provide a
really nice snapshot of the past. To me it is like going back in time
and doing a lizard collecting trip when we can see what these animals
looked like.”
Though some of the specimens are mere fragments of the lizards, the
collection of the amber fossils will be critical to fill in the gaps
between ancient reptiles and their modern relatives,
reported Smithsonian Magazine.
