The ancient skin samples, which are about the size of a human fingernail, date back approximately 289 million years to the early Permian period, when Earth’s continents merged into a single supercontinent surrounded by global oceans. Let’s go back. This landmass supported a diverse group of ancient plants, reptiles, primitive amphibians, and various insects.
The generally warm and dry climate of the Permian period played an important role in the transition of early reptiles from a semi-aquatic to a completely terrestrial lifestyle. Although the emergence of important reptile groups eventually led to the evolution and further separation of mammals and reptiles, the Permian period ended with a dramatic mass extinction that wiped out approximately 90 percent of Earth’s species.
Studying Permian fossils provides scientists with valuable insight into the ancestral animals that eventually evolved into the life forms we know today.
Although scientists cannot determine which species the fossilized skin belongs to, its microscopic structure indicates that it is part of a group called amniotes, which includes mammals, reptiles, and birds. Showing. The markings resemble crocodile skin, indicating that this type of skin may have been found on early reptiles and their relatives.
“Soft tissue preservation is extremely rare, and the discovery of this fossil actually represents the first major innovation in the structure of the human body’s largest organ, the skin,” said study co-author Robert, a paleontologist at the university.・Mr. Rice stated. Located in Mississauga, Toronto.
An amateur collector discovered the skin fossil while working in the fossilized Richards Spur cave system north of Lawton, Oklahoma, and donated it to researchers in 2018. Ethan Mooney, graduate student in paleontology at the University of Toronto.
Fossilization of skin and soft tissue is extremely rare, but the authors believe that the clay-rich conditions of the cave, including oil seepage, provided the perfect environment for preservation. This is because the hydrocarbons contained in the oil exudate inhibit decomposition and decomposition, effectively shielding soft tissue from oxygen and microbial activity, and contributing to its long-term preservation.
The fossilized skin was so delicate that the researchers embedded the sample in epoxy resin and cut it with a fine-tipped diamond saw so it could be examined under a microscope. Researchers were able to date the fossil based on a previous study published in 2013.
From their research, they were also able to identify that the fossils had similar anatomical features to extinct species. captorinus agutiWhich It lived in the Permian period and belonged to an early group of reptiles. This study suggests that this species had bands of flexible, tough skin or epidermal tissue that may have served protective, locomotor, or structural functions.
Paul E. Olsen, a paleontologist and professor of earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University who was not involved in the study, said one of the biggest takeaways from this discovery is that it is important to understand that a common ancestor passed from Earth to Earth. He said it was addressing some of the mysteries surrounding the transition. Mammals and Reptiles. These two lineages of life diverged at some point during the Paleozoic Era, which includes the Permian Period.
“This is a great discovery because it means more discoveries will be made in the same place…and we may finally find out what kind of skin reptiles had,” Olsen said. Ta.
Permian discoveries provide important information about the evolutionary history of life on Earth, the dynamics of ancient ecosystems, and environmental changes during this pivotal period in Earth’s history.
“A lot of people don’t think about what came before the dinosaurs,” Mooney says. [animals] What we know and love today may have looked like that. ”