Cretaceogekko

Cretaceogekko
Cretaceogekko
Temporal range: 110–97 Ma
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Gekkota
Family: Gekkonidae?
Genus: Cretaceogekko
Arnold & Poinar, 2008
Species: C. burmae
Binomial name
Cretaceogekko burmae
Arnold & Poinar, 2008

Cretaceogekko is a prehistoric genus of gecko known from a single partial specimen Cretaceogekko burmae described in 2008 by E. Nicholas Arnold and George Poinar. The foot and partial tail were preserved in Burmese amber for 97 to 110 million years. This is the oldest fossilized gecko ever found, 43 to 56 million years older than Yanatarogecko, previously the oldest known preserved gecko. The amber in which the specimen was found was excavated in 2001 from the isolated Hukawng Valley of Myanmar.[1]

The preserved foot and partial tail show that the geckos of the Lower Cretaceous already possessed the tiny lamellae, or sticking toe setae; counting them convinced paleontologists that the fossil was a juvenile. It had a striped skin pattern that probably served as camouflage.[2]

References

  1. ^ Arnold, E.N., & Poinar, G. (2008). "A 100 million year old gecko with sophisticated adhesive toe pads, preserved in amber from Myanmar (abstract)". Zootaxa. http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2008/f/z01847p068f.pdf. Retrieved August 12, 2009. 
  2. ^ Science News, "Oldest Gecko Fossil Ever Found, Entombed In Amber" Accessed 3 September 2008.


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