400 Well-Preserved Fossils Unearthed in a Mountain Range in France [Study]
New paleontologists recently uncovered a huge surprise -- a world-class fossil site with well-preserved remains of ancient creatures. Hundreds of fossils were located in the Montagne Noire mountain range in France's Hérault department.
Site With Hundreds of Well-Preserved Fossils
According to a new study, the Cabrières Biota, a rich and varied fossil deposit, conserves animals that formerly lived in a marine ecosystem that existed hundreds of millions of years ago. The biota is home to a diverse range of remnants in an amazing state of preservation, including shelly parts and incredibly uncommon soft parts like digestive tracts and cuticles.
Interestingly, when these species were alive, the region now housed the Cabrières Biota was quite close to the South Pole. This indicates what the southernmost ecosystems on Earth were like during the Early Ordovician period, which occurred between 485 and 470 million years ago.
Researchers claim the find is significant globally because it offers previously unheard-of insights into Early Ordovician polar habitats.
An international team of researchers, working with the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and comprising experts from the Faculty of Geosciences and Environment at the University of Lausanne (UNIL) in Switzerland, conducted the first analysis of the Cabrières Biota.
"We've been prospecting and searching for fossils since the age of twenty," said Eric Monceret, one of the amateurs who discovered the site.
"When we came across this amazing biota, we understood the importance of the discovery and went from amazement to excitement," Sylvie Monceret-Goujon, the other amateur, added.
The research results indicate the existence of arthropods, a remarkably diversified group of organisms with an exoskeleton or hard shell. This group consists of insects, crustaceans, and arachnids, among many other things. To continue growing, these organisms must go through molting phases, revealing a new exoskeleton and losing their old one.
Together with a wide variety of algae and sponges, the researchers also discovered cnidarians in the biota, a category that also includes corals and jellyfish.
The researchers speculate that the site's great richness suggests that, some 470 million years ago, the region provided a haven for creatures fleeing the intense heat seen further north.
"At this time of intense global warming, animals were indeed living in high latitude refugia, escaping extreme equatorial temperatures," UNIL researcher Farid Saleh, the study's first author, said in the release.
Dinosaur Fossil Roaming in the US Before Mass Extinction
A new dinosaur species that inhabited the United States before paleontologists had discovered the mass extinction. The fossils were found in South Dakota's Meade County.
The researchers estimated that the creature's hip height was roughly three feet. It might have weighed between 130 and 216 pounds.
The species is a member of the Oviraptorosaur class of dinosaurs, comprising extremely bird-like creatures in North America and Asia during the Cretaceous epoch (145-66 million years ago). Later members had long legs, short tails, and complex feathers. They also lacked beaks.
After the Cretaceous epoch, between 68 and 66.5 million years ago, a new species known as Eoneophron infernalis existed. This nickname generally translates to "Pharaoh's dawn chicken from hell."
The new species' name was derived from the Latin word for hell, which refers to the location of the fossils used to describe it. The first word in the name refers to the dinosaur's genus (or group of species) and is derived from the ancient Greek term eo, which means "dawn."Neophron is the genus name for the Egyptian vulture, also called the "pharaoh's chicken."
These fossils depict a section of the hind limb and were found in South Dakota. The area is part of the Hell Creek geological formation, which crosses portions of Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, and North Dakota.
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