Paleontologists recently discovered a fossilized skin in a cave in Richards Spur in Oklahoma, United States. The skin, a 3-dimensional cast with some fossilized tissue attached, is at least 286 million years old.
In Richards Spur, there is a unique interaction between oil that seeped from the cave rocks, a lack of oxygen and the clay-rich cave sediment. The caves of the Permian fossil locality formed in the Ordovician-age Arbuckle Limestone.
According to the researches, animals likely fell into the cave system and were preserved by oil and tar that seeped in. The newly found skin was not clearly associated with a particular skeleton but it was found at a site with many fossils of Captorhinus aguti.
On January 11, 2024, the new discovery was published in Current Biology. Prior to this discovery, the oldest preserved skin yet found was around 156 million years old.
Using computed tomography (CT) scans, the researchers looked at the details inside the fossil skin. They found that the internal structure was like that of modern crocodiles.
Moreover, the researchers learned that the skin was suited to the side-to-side walking motions similar to those of lizards. Such motions are expected of early amniotes.
A scaly outer layer of skin helped keep early amniotes from dying out. They were able to lay eggs on land.
CONAN Daily 