jojackson
New Member
Hi Folks, I have a particular passion for ancient reptiles, and I want to share some with you! 
* Cue the voice of Sir David Attenborough* ~"Across a sunlit patch of forest,a tiny lizard chases a low flying insect. The insect alights on the trunk of a nearby tree and the tiny lizard quickly lunges forward to snap up its prey.
It will be the last meal this lizard will ever enjoy.
As it scurries toward the settled insect, it becomes stuck in the oozing sap of the tree, leaking from a hole on the trunk. It struggles but the more it struggles the deeper it sinks.
Its desperate struggles cause a buildup of lactic acid and in short time, the lizard is exhausted, unable to move. The shadows lengthen as the day goes on,
the sap continues to ooze, and as darkness falls the lizard is completely covered. here it will remain, perfectly preserved for the next 40 million years!"
In the middle of June 1997, on a wooded sand dune in Gdansk, Poland, Gabriela Gierlowska spotted a small amber piece with a unique lizard. The surface of the lump was strongly oxidized, mat, covered with a dark grey marsh sediment, and in its shape and size resembled an immature pine cone (rotten cones often accompany accumulations of amber). The cone-shaped piece was 50 x 35 x 14 mm in size, and on its longest side there was a depression filled with black silt.
Gabriela Gierlowska discovered the inclusion while polishing the stone. After removing the opaque, oxidized layer, inside a lump of homogenous, translucent amber, appeared a well-preserved lizard. The inlcusion enabled recognizing many anatomical details with an unaided eye, while stereomicroscope and macrophotography revealed still finer details.
After grinding, the size of the lump decreased to 38 x 29 x 10 mm, weighing 7 g. The lizard is incomplete: it lacks the tip of the tail and a considerable fragment of the back. The total length of the preserved animal is 37 mm.
The slightly upward-bent thorax and the missing part of the back indicate that after getting into a pool of liquid resin the lizard did not drown in it completely, and as a result, the parts sticking out were not mummified (Szadziewski 1998).
What a treasure, what an awesome glimps into the long distance paleolithic world. Just imagine a herping trip back in time. I wonder what herps lived then?
Their distant relatives the dinosaurs had already been gone for 25 million yrs.
I love to imagine a pristine and virgin world, its almost as good as time travel!
Details in Amber
Fossils preserved in amber provide scientists an exciting chance to see ancient life preserved in incredible detail. For some features, like skin texture, the amber preservation allows scientists to see even very small details.
Using computed tomography scanning, similar to the CT scanning used in hospitals and doctors' offices, the ISEM researchers at Southern Methodist University are able to create a three-dimensional view of this tiny lizard's skull. The bones are preserved inside a nugget of amber, found in the Dominican Republic.
The amber holding the skull being studied is smaller than a penny. The Anolis skull is smaller than the profile of Abraham Lincoln on the penny.
The specimen studied by Mike Polcyn at ISEM was discovered by Bill Lowe of Granbury, Texas, in a commercial shipment of amber containing plant and insect inclusions. The specimen was donated to the Shuler Museum of Paleontology at Southern Methodist University.
The shipment of amber originated in the Dominican Republic, but was purchased through a broker. Details regarding the precise provenance of the specimen are therefore unknown, but it probably came from the Cierdillera Septentrional.
The age of the Dominican deposits is considered to be Oligocene to Middle Miocene, or Early to Middle Miocene, 10 million to 30 million years ago.
The island of Hispaniola is the second largest in the West Indies and is located just west of Puerto Rico. The island is now divided into the nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Fossil vertebrates preserved in amber are rare, and they are prized by scientists for the detailed anatomical structures they may preserve.
Although as many as a dozen lizards in amber may exist, most are in private collections. Only two specimens of Anolis lizards preserved in Dominican amber have been scientifically studied and described. Both descriptions are based on relatively complete skeletons retaining some soft tissue and scales. A recent study tentatively referred both specimens to the A. chlorocyanus species group.
ISEM researcher Michael Polcyn's study makes use of the first known application of X-ray computed tomography in the analysis of an amber-preserved vertebrate fossil. CT analysis, amongst other details, reveals the new specimen does not possess a splenial, and suggests the new specimen, and possibly the previously described amber anoles, are nested within the "T clade" anoles, of which the A. chlorocyanus species group is included.
The irregularly shaped piece of amber containing the specimen is approximately 1.5cm in the longest axis and 1 cm in the shortest axis, enclosing a relatively complete skull, portions of the first five cervical vertebrae, some soft tissue and scales. The posterior-most preserved vertebral element is exposed to the polished surface of the amber, the remaining portion of the fossil is completely encapsulated. The amber is dark and the surface highly irregular limiting visual examination due to optical distortion and semi-opacity of the amber, therefore x-ray computed tomography was employed to facilitate description.
Imagine you are a happy little tree frog minding your own business, resting in the sun on a giant cycad (Pterophyllum). Suddenly, you feel an icky, sticky, ooze covering your body like pancake syrup. Try as you might, no way can you loosen the grip of the dripping resin. This little bugger has been in suspended animation for AT LEAST 25 million years. Looks just like frogs of today, don't you think?
Wide eyed and wonderful, this female gecko lizard stares in the face the amber that engulfs her. Notice her small right front foot at her nose. Order Reptilia, family Gekkonidae
Gecko In Amber 100 Million Years ~ Thursday, August 28, 2008
CORVALLIS — Scientists from Oregon State University and the Natural History Museum in London have announced the discovery of the oldest known fossil of a gecko, with body parts that are forever preserved in lifelike form after 100 million years of being entombed in amber.
Due to the remarkable preservative power of being embalmed in amber, the tiny foot of this ancient lizard still shows the tiny “lamellae,” or sticky toe hairs, that to this day give modern geckos their unusual ability to cling to surfaces or run across a ceiling. Research programs around the world have tried to mimic this bizarre adhesive capability, with limited success.
The fossilized gecko’s running days are over, however, as only the foot, toes and part of a tail are left in the stone. The rest might have become lunch for a small dinosaur or other predator during an ancient fight in the tropical forests of Burma during the Lower Cretaceous Period, from 97 million to 110 million years ago.
The find is at least 40 million years older than the oldest known gecko fossil, shedding additional light on the evolution and history of these ancient lizards that scampered among the feet of giant dinosaurs then and still are common in tropical and subtropical regions all over the world.
The findings were just published in Zootaxa, a professional journal. The amber fossil was mined in the Hukawng Valley in Burma.
“It’s the unusual toe pads and clinging ability of some geckos that make them such a fascinating group of animals, so we were very fortunate to find such a well-preserved foot in this fossil specimen,” said George Poinar Jr., a courtesy professor at OSU and one of the world’s leading experts on insects, plants and other life forms trapped in amber, a semiprecious stone that begins as tree sap.
Based on the number of lamellae found on its toe pads, this gecko was probably a very small juvenile of what would have become a comparatively large adult, possibly up to a foot long, the researchers say. Modern geckos get no more than about 16 inches long, although it’s possible there were larger species millions of years ago. The juvenile gecko found in the fossil was less than an inch in length when it died — possibly by being eaten or attacked, since only partial remains were found.
The discovery has been announced as a new genus and specie s of gecko, now extinct, and has been named Cretaceogekko. It had a striped pattern that probably served as camouflage.
* Cue the voice of Sir David Attenborough* ~"Across a sunlit patch of forest,a tiny lizard chases a low flying insect. The insect alights on the trunk of a nearby tree and the tiny lizard quickly lunges forward to snap up its prey.
It will be the last meal this lizard will ever enjoy.
As it scurries toward the settled insect, it becomes stuck in the oozing sap of the tree, leaking from a hole on the trunk. It struggles but the more it struggles the deeper it sinks.
Its desperate struggles cause a buildup of lactic acid and in short time, the lizard is exhausted, unable to move. The shadows lengthen as the day goes on,
the sap continues to ooze, and as darkness falls the lizard is completely covered. here it will remain, perfectly preserved for the next 40 million years!"
In the middle of June 1997, on a wooded sand dune in Gdansk, Poland, Gabriela Gierlowska spotted a small amber piece with a unique lizard. The surface of the lump was strongly oxidized, mat, covered with a dark grey marsh sediment, and in its shape and size resembled an immature pine cone (rotten cones often accompany accumulations of amber). The cone-shaped piece was 50 x 35 x 14 mm in size, and on its longest side there was a depression filled with black silt.
Gabriela Gierlowska discovered the inclusion while polishing the stone. After removing the opaque, oxidized layer, inside a lump of homogenous, translucent amber, appeared a well-preserved lizard. The inlcusion enabled recognizing many anatomical details with an unaided eye, while stereomicroscope and macrophotography revealed still finer details.
After grinding, the size of the lump decreased to 38 x 29 x 10 mm, weighing 7 g. The lizard is incomplete: it lacks the tip of the tail and a considerable fragment of the back. The total length of the preserved animal is 37 mm.
The slightly upward-bent thorax and the missing part of the back indicate that after getting into a pool of liquid resin the lizard did not drown in it completely, and as a result, the parts sticking out were not mummified (Szadziewski 1998).
What a treasure, what an awesome glimps into the long distance paleolithic world. Just imagine a herping trip back in time. I wonder what herps lived then?
Their distant relatives the dinosaurs had already been gone for 25 million yrs.
I love to imagine a pristine and virgin world, its almost as good as time travel!
Details in Amber
Fossils preserved in amber provide scientists an exciting chance to see ancient life preserved in incredible detail. For some features, like skin texture, the amber preservation allows scientists to see even very small details.
Using computed tomography scanning, similar to the CT scanning used in hospitals and doctors' offices, the ISEM researchers at Southern Methodist University are able to create a three-dimensional view of this tiny lizard's skull. The bones are preserved inside a nugget of amber, found in the Dominican Republic.
The amber holding the skull being studied is smaller than a penny. The Anolis skull is smaller than the profile of Abraham Lincoln on the penny.
The specimen studied by Mike Polcyn at ISEM was discovered by Bill Lowe of Granbury, Texas, in a commercial shipment of amber containing plant and insect inclusions. The specimen was donated to the Shuler Museum of Paleontology at Southern Methodist University.
The shipment of amber originated in the Dominican Republic, but was purchased through a broker. Details regarding the precise provenance of the specimen are therefore unknown, but it probably came from the Cierdillera Septentrional.
The age of the Dominican deposits is considered to be Oligocene to Middle Miocene, or Early to Middle Miocene, 10 million to 30 million years ago.
The island of Hispaniola is the second largest in the West Indies and is located just west of Puerto Rico. The island is now divided into the nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Fossil vertebrates preserved in amber are rare, and they are prized by scientists for the detailed anatomical structures they may preserve.
Although as many as a dozen lizards in amber may exist, most are in private collections. Only two specimens of Anolis lizards preserved in Dominican amber have been scientifically studied and described. Both descriptions are based on relatively complete skeletons retaining some soft tissue and scales. A recent study tentatively referred both specimens to the A. chlorocyanus species group.
ISEM researcher Michael Polcyn's study makes use of the first known application of X-ray computed tomography in the analysis of an amber-preserved vertebrate fossil. CT analysis, amongst other details, reveals the new specimen does not possess a splenial, and suggests the new specimen, and possibly the previously described amber anoles, are nested within the "T clade" anoles, of which the A. chlorocyanus species group is included.
The irregularly shaped piece of amber containing the specimen is approximately 1.5cm in the longest axis and 1 cm in the shortest axis, enclosing a relatively complete skull, portions of the first five cervical vertebrae, some soft tissue and scales. The posterior-most preserved vertebral element is exposed to the polished surface of the amber, the remaining portion of the fossil is completely encapsulated. The amber is dark and the surface highly irregular limiting visual examination due to optical distortion and semi-opacity of the amber, therefore x-ray computed tomography was employed to facilitate description.
Imagine you are a happy little tree frog minding your own business, resting in the sun on a giant cycad (Pterophyllum). Suddenly, you feel an icky, sticky, ooze covering your body like pancake syrup. Try as you might, no way can you loosen the grip of the dripping resin. This little bugger has been in suspended animation for AT LEAST 25 million years. Looks just like frogs of today, don't you think?
Wide eyed and wonderful, this female gecko lizard stares in the face the amber that engulfs her. Notice her small right front foot at her nose. Order Reptilia, family Gekkonidae
Gecko In Amber 100 Million Years ~ Thursday, August 28, 2008
CORVALLIS — Scientists from Oregon State University and the Natural History Museum in London have announced the discovery of the oldest known fossil of a gecko, with body parts that are forever preserved in lifelike form after 100 million years of being entombed in amber.
Due to the remarkable preservative power of being embalmed in amber, the tiny foot of this ancient lizard still shows the tiny “lamellae,” or sticky toe hairs, that to this day give modern geckos their unusual ability to cling to surfaces or run across a ceiling. Research programs around the world have tried to mimic this bizarre adhesive capability, with limited success.
The fossilized gecko’s running days are over, however, as only the foot, toes and part of a tail are left in the stone. The rest might have become lunch for a small dinosaur or other predator during an ancient fight in the tropical forests of Burma during the Lower Cretaceous Period, from 97 million to 110 million years ago.
The find is at least 40 million years older than the oldest known gecko fossil, shedding additional light on the evolution and history of these ancient lizards that scampered among the feet of giant dinosaurs then and still are common in tropical and subtropical regions all over the world.
The findings were just published in Zootaxa, a professional journal. The amber fossil was mined in the Hukawng Valley in Burma.
“It’s the unusual toe pads and clinging ability of some geckos that make them such a fascinating group of animals, so we were very fortunate to find such a well-preserved foot in this fossil specimen,” said George Poinar Jr., a courtesy professor at OSU and one of the world’s leading experts on insects, plants and other life forms trapped in amber, a semiprecious stone that begins as tree sap.
Based on the number of lamellae found on its toe pads, this gecko was probably a very small juvenile of what would have become a comparatively large adult, possibly up to a foot long, the researchers say. Modern geckos get no more than about 16 inches long, although it’s possible there were larger species millions of years ago. The juvenile gecko found in the fossil was less than an inch in length when it died — possibly by being eaten or attacked, since only partial remains were found.
The discovery has been announced as a new genus and specie s of gecko, now extinct, and has been named Cretaceogekko. It had a striped pattern that probably served as camouflage.
