I saw this article and thought it was pretty cool even though the species mentioned is not local. The Coqui (Eleutherodactylus coqui) frog, named after the male's loud mating calls it makes at night, is a symbol of Puerto Rico.
Paleontologists were conducting a research trip at a fossil site in northwestern Puerto Rico when Jorge Velez-Juarbe discovered a partially exposed bone fragment in the sediment. After returning home, cleaning, and examining the bone fragment, he realized how important his discovery was. This bone fragment now holds the title for the oldest bone fragment (29 million years old) of a Caribbean frog.
The article talks about how this discovery is so difficult due to the climate of the tropics effecting the preservation of tiny, lightweight bones seen in these species and how hard it can be to find experts to help identify the fossils.
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| Direct developers! |
Fossil finds help give insight to the origin and development of the modern amphibian and reptile species we have today and I'm sure this find sparks a greater interest in continued research. I don't know about you guys but it is hard for me to wrap my head around finding and holding something that is 29 MILLION YEARS OLD, but it is so cool to read about!
The original research article can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0947
1 comment:
Wow! How did they determine that this was, specifically, from a coqui frog?
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