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The Cretaceous amber lizard-tail fossil

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Where it stands

A roughly 99-million-year-old lizard tail in Myanmar amber preserves a clean break and a symmetrical ring of tissue matching structures used in tail-shedding by living lizards. The evidence supports deliberate shedding as an escape mechanism in the Late Cretaceous; the fossil’s scientific interpretation remains to be settled or superseded.

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  1. Update 1How a lizard tail in amber reveals a 99-million-year-old escape mechanism

The story so far

  1. Update 1

    How a lizard tail in amber reveals a 99-million-year-old escape mechanism

    Scans reveal tissue at a fossil tail’s separation point that supports self-detachment. The tiny specimen preserves the mechanism—not the lizard’s fate.

History

  1. Opened1 report

Who's involved

People

  • Ahmed Nassermodern pentathlete1 report
  • Apostolos Christopoulosresearcher1 report
  • Leonidas-Romanos Davranoglouentomologist1 report

Organizations

  • Palaeontologia Electronicascientific journal1 report
  • Steinhardt Museum of Natural Historynatural history museum in Tel Aviv, Israel1 report
  • Tel Aviv UniversityUniversity in Tel Aviv, Israel1 report

Places

  • Steinhardt Museum of Natural HistorySteinhardt Museum of Natural History, Klausner 12, Tel Aviv University, 6997801 Tel-Aviv, Israel1 report

Every outlet we read on this story

17 sources11 outlets1 wire copy