General view of Retinosaurus hkamtiensis: (a) photograph of the specimen — a well-preserved skull, including the mandible, part of the hyoid (ceratobranchial), and a partial postcranial skeleton, as well as well-preserved skin tissues — within the amber resin in dorsal view; (b-d) high resolution computerized scan (HRCT) rendering of the integument surface; note that the integument is not visible in the photograph, as it may be preserved as a translucent layer; greenish color indicates the skin, light brown indicates the bones preserved inside. Image credit: Čerňanský et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-05735-5.
SciNews has a story about the discovery of another interesting fossil preserved in amber. This one is a nearly complete lizard which dates to the Cretaceous period about 110 million years ago. The fossil was found in what is now Burma as part its famous amber deposits. The animal, named Retinosaurus hkamtiensis, was described in a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports.
The newly-identified lizard species, named Retinosaurus hkamtiensis, was trapped in an araucarian tree resin about 110 million years ago (Albian age of the Cretaceous period).
“You’re looking into the face of an animal that lived when the dinosaurs were roaming around,” said Villanova University’s Professor Aaron Bauer.
The piece of amber with a well-preserved juvenile Retinosaurus hkamtiensis was recovered from the Hkamti District at Patabum, in close proximity of the Jade mines in the northern Myanmar Central Basin.
The specimen was analyzed through a CT scan, which allowed the paleontologists to create 3D renderings of the lizard.
“We had the rare opportunity to study not only an articulated skeleton but also the external appearance of the lizard, the scales, in the same way that herpetologists study current species,” said Dr. Juan Diego Daza, a researcher at the Sam Houston State University.
“Although digital models generated from computed tomography data can never completely replace the physical objects they represent, they can increase access to museum specimens,” added Dr. Edward Stanley, a researcher at the Florida Museum of Natural History.
“We carried out multiple phylogenetic analyses to try to establish relationships between this form and others based on characters of the skeleton and the pattern drawn by the scales,” said Dr. Arnau Bolet, a researcher at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the University of Bristol.