23 Million Year-Old Lizard Found In Mexico

 A beautiful gem or a scientist’s dream? You can have both, as researchers in Mexico recently discovered after finding the remains of a 23-million-year-old lizard fossil, well preserved with soft tissue samples, in a small piece of amber.

Amber often contains small remains of plants and animals, but it is rare to find complete vertebrates such as this lizard.

While it’s currently too early to confirm the small lizard’s species, preliminary examination suggests the important specimen might be a new species belonging to the genus Anolis. This means that the little guy may provide an invaluable opportunity to learn more about an evolutionarily important and impressively adaptive species.