Mexican scientists are studying a complete fossil of a lizard that lived some 23 million years ago and whose soft tissue remains have been preserved in amber.
The small piece of fossil resin, which is in the shape of a trapezoid and entombs the skeleton, was found several months ago in the Simojovel amber deposits of the northern part of the southeastern state of Chiapas.
Amber often contains small remains of plants and animals, but it is rare to find complete vertebrates such as this lizard, preliminarily identified as a new species of the genus Anolis and currently on display at the Amber Museum in San Cristobal de las Casas.
Francisco Riquelme of the National Autonomous University of Mexico's Physics Institute told Efe the specimen, measuring about approximately 1.8 inches (or 4.5 centimeters) by .5 inches (or 1.3 centimeters) was "a complete and articulated animal that also preserves remains of soft tissue and skin."