Newly-discovered fossils of the protomammal Lystrosaurus have mummified skin, the first such specimen ever found.
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We know more about what dinosaurs looked like than many of our own fossil relatives. Even though excavations have turned up feathers, skin impressions and other clues about what the reptiles looked like, paleontologists have only found a handful of fossils that depict our protomammal cousins , as well as when classic mammal features like fur first evolved.
The fossils are among 170 specimens found in South Africa’s Karoo Basin. These deposits date back to about 251 million years ago, the remnants of what was once a watering hole for local creatures that had dried up back in the earliest days of the Triassic. It’s there, University of Witwatersrand paleontologists Pia Viglietti and colleagues report in the journalperished in a “spread-eagle” position. At least two of these show preserved skin, the first of their kind ever found.
Finding evidence of skin on a synapsid is a “holy grail discovery” says University of Southern California paleontologist Adam Huttenlocker, who was not involved in the new research. Still, he notes, it’s surprising that it took until now for such a discovery to be made.
finds add another point of reference for paleontologists curious about the origins of fur. Discoveries of earlier synapsids from places such as Russia indicate that early protomammals had smooth skin. The earliest direct evidence of fur in the fossil record doesn’t show up until tens of millions of years later, and even other clues, such as brain anatomy that suggests sensation through whiskers or vibrissae, also appear closer to the origins of mammals.
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