In the 90-odd years since the discovery, we have never found anything like the ancient Early Permian fossil found in the Italian Alps. is called tridentinosaurus antiqueIt was excavated in 1931 and is considered a truly remarkable find. The fossil, which dates back 280 million years ago, before the emergence of dinosaurs, is thought to be one of the oldest lizard fossils ever found.

Even more fascinating, its preservation was extraordinary: an outlined imprint of the animal’s body in the preserved soft tissue. We now know why we haven’t found any fossils like this: This soft tissue is not soft tissue at all, according to a careful new analysis. This is paint. The discovery was made by a team led by paleobiologist Valentina Rossi from University College Cork, who uncovered the devastating trick while examining the unusual remains.

“I have to say, at first glance, the fossil looks a little strange,” Rossi told ScienceAlert.

“Other colleagues said they had the same reaction. But fossils are always a little weird, so I continued my research and after analyzing microsamples that resembled body lines (i.e. skin) I realized nothing made sense. . “Molecular analysis concluded that we had black dye, not carbonized soft tissue.”

tridentosaur has long been a fossil celebrity. Soft tissues are rarely spared; It usually decomposes before long fossilization processes leave their mark.

When preserved, it can give us some information about the animal it belongs to, such as the color and texture of its skin, even its anatomy and the location of its internal organs. Scientists put forward theories about how soft tissues are protected tridentosaurbut no one has studied the volume in detail. Therefore, Rossi and his colleagues decided to examine the issue more closely.

Initial UV scanning revealed a coating throughout the fossil. This was the standard for preserving delicate structures in the past and is still sometimes done for particularly fragile specimens. However, what lay beneath the cover required a more detailed analysis.

The team used a combination of energy-dispersive spectroscopy, micro-X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy combined with Fourier transform attenuated total reflection and Raman scattering infrared spectroscopy to analyze the black material believed to be charred leather.

They compared their results with various materials. The sample did not correspond to organic material, but to the artificial black bone pigment often seen in historical paintings. The discovery turned out to be extremely unexpected, and the researchers were furious. But there is a silver lining.

“I think we were all a little shocked and saddened, I can honestly say,” Rossi recalls, “but we realized that this was a point in the history of paleontology. Today we can rely on powerful methods that allow us to look at fossils at the molecular level, which was impossible even 10 years ago.”

Also, although the “skin” is fake, some parts of the fossil are real. The bones of the hind legs on which the skin is painted are real, especially the thigh bones. It will be difficult to examine these bones under dye, but 3D imaging may help. This means researchers can work to understand the facts. tridentosaur they are even compared to other fossils that might previously have been ignored as being too different to represent the same species or genus.

Paleontologists can revisit the area where the fossil was found and look for new specimens, perhaps in better condition. Study may have revealed the main mystery tridentosaur But one glaring one remained.

“We don’t know who did this and why,” says Rossi.

“We believe that because some of the bones were visible as well as small bone flakes, someone decided to excavate areas where they thought other bones might be located. Perhaps the paint was applied to decorate the sample.”