90-million-year-old lizard fish fossil found by a young boy in South America is first of its kind
90-million-year-old lizard fish fossil found by a young boy in South America is first of its kind
The perfectly preserved fossil of the ancient sea creature was dated back to the Cretaceous period.
India Ashok By India Ashok
February 3, 2018 09:41 GMT
An incredibly rare, 90-million-year-old fossil of an ancient sea creature was found in Colombia by a young tourist. The discovery was made by a 10-year-old-boy named Rio Santiago Dolmetsch, a palaeontology enthusiast, while he was visiting the Monastery of La Candelaria in Colombia in 2015.
The fossil, which has been named Candelarhynchus padillai, was identified as belonging to a rare species of "lizard fish" and is the first of its kind ever to be found in Columbia and tropical South America.
"A kid was walking into the monastery during a tour when he noticed the shape of a fish in a flagstones on the ground," Javier Luque, a PhD candidate at the University of Alberta and co-author on the new study, said in a statement. "He took a photo and, a few days later, showed it to staff at the Centro de Investigaciones Paleontologicas, a local museum with whom we collaborate to protect and study fossil findings from the region."
90-million-year-old lizard fish fossil found by a young boy in South America is first of its kind
The perfectly preserved fossil of the ancient sea creature was dated back to the Cretaceous period.
India Ashok By India Ashok
February 3, 2018 09:41 GMT
An incredibly rare, 90-million-year-old fossil of an ancient sea creature was found in Colombia by a young tourist. The discovery was made by a 10-year-old-boy named Rio Santiago Dolmetsch, a palaeontology enthusiast, while he was visiting the Monastery of La Candelaria in Colombia in 2015.
The fossil, which has been named Candelarhynchus padillai, was identified as belonging to a rare species of "lizard fish" and is the first of its kind ever to be found in Columbia and tropical South America.
"A kid was walking into the monastery during a tour when he noticed the shape of a fish in a flagstones on the ground," Javier Luque, a PhD candidate at the University of Alberta and co-author on the new study, said in a statement. "He took a photo and, a few days later, showed it to staff at the Centro de Investigaciones Paleontologicas, a local museum with whom we collaborate to protect and study fossil findings from the region."
. . .
According to Oksana Vernygora, a PhD student in the department of biological sciences at the University of Albnerta and lead author of the study, the prehistoric sea creature, has no modern relatives. The ancient fish swam about in the Earth's oceans during the Cretaceous period, which lasted from 66 million years to 145 million years ago and was a time when dinosaurs reigned supreme over our planet.
More:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/90-million-year-old-lizard-fish-fossil-found-by-young-boy-south-america-first-its-kind-1658540
Science:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/122855650
