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Crocodile - like skin belonging to an early coinage of reptile is the oldest fossilized skin ever discovered , date back almost 290 million years — 130 million years previous than the previous platter bearer .
The skin , dating from the Paleozoic era ( 541 million to 252 million years ago ) , has similar features to that of other ancient reptilian species , with pebble - like , non - overlapping shell , which most closely resemble the extinctCretaceous(145 million to 66 million class ago ) dinosaurEdmontosaurusand crocodile peel . Hinged region between the epidermal weighing machine resemble the cutis structures found in Snake River and louse lizards , fossilist note in a young study .
Artist impression of the reptile-like creature that the skin came from.
" It was mind blowing when we realize this was technically the oldest piece of a right mummified skin , " study co - authorEthan Mooney , a University of Toronto palaeontology grad , told Live Science . " Impressions of peel are rare in the fossil record book , but more common than proper mummified skin . " Our skin cast ( which is mummified peel ) , is 130 million twelvemonth older than the oldest example of right mummified skin , most of which fare from dinosaurs . "
The previous old confirmed skin fogey came from a dinosaur , lead source Robert Reisz told Live Science . He added that there is another dodo from Russia that is 21 million age younger , but the specimen needs to be restudied to affirm it is skin .
concord to the study , published Jan. 11 in the journalCurrent Biology , the peel fossil is the oldest get it on example of a uphold epidermis — the outermost layer of peel find in terrestrial reptiles , birds and mammalian . The structure could have been vital to species ' transition and endurance from aquatic to fully terrestrial environments , because it protect their organ from the elements .
Fossilized skin from the 290 million-year-old creature.
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The tiny fingernail - sizing skin fossil was found preserved in clay sediments in Richards Spur limestone cave organisation in Oklahoma , along with other specimen . Although skin and soft tissues are seldom fossilized , researchers say the cave system ’s complex composing of fine clay sediments combined with oil ooze in an oxygenless environment likely slowed rot and preserved the sample .
When researchers examined the fossil under a microscope , they found cuticular tissues that are commonly found in the pelt of amniotes — a terrestrial vertebrate mathematical group lie in of reptile , birds and mammals that evolved from amphibious ancestors during the Carboniferous time period .
At the time this wight lived , dinosaurs were yet to go forth and animals consisted of four - legged craniate which were fish - the likes of in appearance . concord toa study from 2009 , these other tetrapods would have resembled crocodile , lounge lizard , eel and snakes .
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Mooney said these ancient ancestors would have looked " very reptilian if you saw them today , " adding that the " mummified skin and associated impressions likely show us what the pelt would have been like in these patrimonial reptiles . "
However , as no skeleton or other remains were found , investigator say it is n’t possible to discover the species of creature or even the part of the torso the cutis grow from .
Mooney said discovering ossified hide resembling that seen in living animals today prove it was " critical for their achiever on land . " This early pelt , and the refreshing structures within , enabled creatures to move from aquatic environments to telluric habitats , eventually leading to the evolution of birds , mammals and reptiles , the authors wrote .
