Who among us hasn’t had their prized 280-million-year-old fossil eventually be proven to partially be a good fake? A new examination of a specimen first discovered almost 100 years ago reveals that parts of it are a forgery. The detective work is highlighted in a study published February 15 in the journal Palaeontology and urges caution in how this fossil is used in future studies.
[Related: Benjamin Franklin used science to protect his money from counterfeiters.]
The fossil of an extinct reptile called Tridentinosaurus antiquus was first discovered in the Italian Alps in 1931. It was billed as one of the oldest fossils of a backboned creature found in Italy. Its body outline looked dark against the surrounding rock and was initially interpreted as soft tissues that had been preserved over millions of years. Unlike hard bones and teeth, soft tissues mostly disintegrate over time, so specimens uncovered with skin intact are considered a big find.
“Fossil soft tissues are rare, but when found in a fossil they can reveal important biological information, for instance, the external colouration, internal anatomy and physiology,” Valentina Rossi, a study co-author and paleobiologist at University College Cork in Ireland, said in a statement.
The somewhat strange preservation left many experts uncertain about what group of reptiles this strange lizard-like animal belonged to and more generally its geological history. It was initially classified as a member of the group Protorosauria. These reptiles went extinct towards the Late Triassic era and are known for long necks. The scientists believed it was an important find in understanding the evolution of early reptiles.
The purported fossilized skin had previously been hailed in books and other studies, but had never been studied in great detail. The team on this new study reexamined the fossil and found that the fossil is primarily just black paint on a carved lizard-shaped rock…
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