Once upon a time, a small reptile took a break in the mud. Fast forward nearly 300 million years, and that moment has led to an incredible find: the oldest fossilized reptile skin impression ever discovered. This fossil features not only scales but also what scientists believe to be the cloaca, an opening used for various bodily functions.
Paleontologist Lorenzo Marchetti from the German Natural History Museum explains, “Soft-tissue structures like this are extremely rare in fossils. The deeper we go into Earth’s history, the rarer they become.” This discovery sheds light on the early development of reptiles and their skin.
The fossil comes from the Goldlauter Formation in Germany’s Thuringian Forest. Analysis shows it belonged to a reptile about 9 centimeters (3.5 inches) long. It’s been named Cabarzichnus pulchrus, representing a new species.
|C. pulchrus likely was a bolosaurian, part of an ancient reptile lineage that thrived around 295 million years ago during the Asselian age of the early Permian. This period was crucial as reptiles began to diversify rapidly.
The fossil reveals detailed impressions of belly scales, which acted as armor, but the real standout is the cloaca at the base of the tail. This finding beats the previous record, which was a Psittacosaurus fossil dating back 120 million years. Current research suggests that the cloaca was common in early reptiles, aligning with long-held views.
Interestingly, the shape of C. pulchrus’ cloaca differs from that of dinosaurs and crocodiles, resembling more closely that of modern turtles and lizards.
The fossil also captures rows of skin scales across various parts of the body, similar to those of today’s reptiles. According to Marchetti, “Trace fossils are more than just footprints. They preserve vital anatomical details, enhancing our understanding of early vertebrate evolution.”
This research was published in Current Biology and offers a fascinating glimpse into our planet’s history.
For more on the evolution of reptiles, check out this study on amniotes.
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