A surprise find: 99-million-year-old frog encased in amber

The Washington Post ^ | 06/15/18 | Allyson Chiu

[Simon Green]

At first glance, the oddly shaped splotches darkening a vibrant yellow piece of amber appear to be amorphous blobs. But upon closer examination, a shape emerges.

There are two forelimbs. At the end of each limb are four smaller bones, forming a distinctly handlike shape. Within the largest dark spot, which has a rounded top, eye sockets become distinguishable. It’s a skull.

Encased within the smooth chunk of amber is the body of a tiny young tropical frog. Scientists say the diminutive critter, measuring less than an inch long, lived about 99 million years ago before it became entombed in sticky tree sap. At the time, dinosaurs still roamed Earth.

The fossil is one of four that date to the Cretaceous period, providing scientists with the earliest direct evidence that frogs inhabited wet, tropical forests, according to a statement from the Florida Museum of Natural History. The findings were published Thursday in Nature’s Scientific Reports.

“It’s almost unheard of to get a fossil frog from this time period that is small, has preservation of small bones and is mostly three-dimensional,” the study’s co-author David Blackburn, the associate curator of herpetology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, said in a statement. “This is pretty special.”

The fossils included one skeleton of a frog that was complete enough for scientists to identify it as a new species, named Electrorana limoae, the study said. The other fossils contain two hands and an imprint of a frog that probably decayed inside the amber.

[Hoosier-Daddy]

And yet it still voted Democrat.

[Monkey Face]

A FROG!

“Frogs, frogs, marching through the night...”
(Red Skelton)

I collect frogs, but not the living ones. I would have been “Frog Lady” on FR, but “Monkey Face” was chosen for me way back in ‘91. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it! ;o]

[WKUHilltopper]

“...lived about 99 million years ago...”

So, there was a manufacturers date on it? Or they just magically knew this?

Besides, FUWashPo

[Joe 6-pack]

“It’s almost unheard of to get a fossil frog from this time period that is small, has preservation of small bones and is mostly three-dimensional,”

Is part of the frog trapped in another dimension? Which parts aren't three-dimensional??

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

All these stories of bugs and animals in amber. Did they have monster tree sap back then?

[a fool in paradise]

Everything was bigger and better in the old days

[G Larry]

"lived about 99 million years ago"

Could we please examine the dating technique?

What is the confidence level once we get past a million years?

[DouglasKC]

90 million years old and still looks like a frog so much for evolution.

[wildbill]

I remember stories about frogs accidentally incased in building cornerstone time capsule areas and coming back to life after the stone was moved.

They should chip the amber away very carefully. And hope it isn’t on the DEA’s list of Tier 1 drug toads. (but that is another story about our government that you might think is a fairy tale)

[oldvirginian]

“They should chip the amber away very carefully. And hope it isn’t on the DEA’s list of Tier 1 drug toads. (but that is another story about our government that you might think is a fairy tale)”

I thought something along the same line when I used to drive by Toadsuck Park in Arkansas.
(Well it IS Arkansas)

[Jan_Sobieski]

99-million-year-old frog encased in amber

A 99-million-year-old frog is one OLD frog!?! How did he/she live so long? What was the secret to the frog's longevity? Should we all eat flies? Who encased the 99-million-year-old frog in amber?

[SunkenCiv]

It may be just as well, otherwise online doofuses like me would be asking if the way you got the name Frog Lady was a ribetting account.

[SunkenCiv]

Campfire Song “Don’t Lick a Toad”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erQtL09UKTY

15 or 20 years ago I saw a comedian who was touring in support of his recording, “Lick a toad!” Can’t remember his name, and there’s no apparent sign of him on the internet. Hey, if there were, you think I’d use a link to Red Green?

[SunkenCiv]

Heh, obviously it's all 3D, the goofy writer refers to the parts of the frog that were crushed, looks like he didn't hop, but was pushed into the fresh resin 99 million years ago. There are no suspects.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks!

[SunkenCiv]

A ping to those who may find more of this interesting -- the "Look Back in Amber" keyword:

• Remarkable spider with a tail found preserved in amber after 100 million years [2018]
• Ticks Trapped in Amber Were Likely Sucking Dinosaur Blood [2017]
• Ticks That Fed on Dinosaurs Found Trapped in Amber [2017]
• New Cretaceous Fossils Shed Light On The Early Evolution Of Ants [2016]
• Ancient flowering plant was beautiful -- but probably poisonous [2016]
• Scientists Have Found An Ancient Fossilized Mosquito Full Of Blood (46 Million Years OLD) [2013]
• Dinosaur Feathers Discovered in Canadian Amber [2013]
• A Fossilized Scene of a Spider Attacking a Wasp, Preserved for 110 Million Years [2012]
• Prehistoric tiny bugs found trapped in amber [2012]
• 'Dinofuzz' Found in Canadian Amber [2011]
• Peru researchers make rare ancient insect find [2011]
• Prehistoric mammal hair found in Cretaceous amber [2010]
• Marine plankton found in amber [2008]
• Scientists Discover 356 Animal Inclusions Trapped In Opaque Amber 100 Million Years Old [2008]
• Dino-Era Feathers Found Encased In Amber (100 Million Years Old) [2008]
• How Amber Becomes Death Trap For Watery Creatures [2007]
• Scientist: Frog Could Be 25M Years Old [2007]
• Scientist finds 100 million-year-old bee [2006]
• Spider 'is 20 million years old' [2005]
• Oldest spider silk preserved in amber [2003]
• Dinosaur Breath - Cretaceous Atmosphere Sample obtained and Studied. [2003]

[SaveFerris]

[ Could we please examine the dating technique? ]

There’s a date stamped on the back of the neck.

[pas]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy6uLfermPU

[elbook]

“lived about 99 million years ago”
Could we please examine the dating technique?
What is the confidence level once we get past a million years?

---

Probably from the rock strata and other surrounding fossils - Potassium-argon dating (which even with rough million years inaccuracy still indicates it being still a very long time ago)

“excavated from northern Myanmar”

[txnativegop]

Thanks SunkenCiv!