Can mislabelling things ever be good? Evidently yes. In Colombia, a mislabelled fossil has fascinated scientists. Two ancient plant fossils collected by a Colombian priest around half a century ago turned out to be rare hatchling turtles from when mighty dinosaurs roamed the Earth.
Extinct plant fossils
Between the 1950s and the 1970s, Colombian priest Padre Gustavo Huertas collected the leaf-shaped fossils near the town of Villa de Leyva. Later, he identified them as fossils of an extinct plant.
He described them as Sphenophyllum colombianum, a group of plants that flourished during the Late Devonian—419.2 million to 358.9 million years ago and the Permian — 298.9 million to 251.9 million years ago.
However, a new study published on Dec 7 in the journal Palaeontologia Electronica, has now revealed that they are actually tiny turtle shells.
Tiny turtles from the time of dinosaurs
These fossils belong to the Cretaceous period — around 145 million to 66 million years ago. They measure just two inches (five centimetres) wide and 2.4 inches (6.1 centimetres) long.
What’s even more fascinating is that they are officially the first hatchling marine turtles on record in Northern South America from that age.
In a statement released by the Field Museum in Chicago, the study’s lead author, Héctor Palma-Castro, a palaeobotany student at the National University of Colombia, said the find was “truly surprising”.
How did they realise that the fossils have been mislabelled?
The fossils, their unusual age and the location where they were found sparked curiosity in the minds of Palma-Castro and his supervisor, co-author Fabiany Herrera.
“As soon as we photographed them, we thought, ‘this is weird,'” said Hererra, the assistant curator of fossil plants at the Field Museum.
They deduced that the shape and margins of the supposed leaves did not resemble a plant, and the lines in it looked like bones.
With the help of another co-author Edwin-Alberto Cadena, a palaeontologist at the University of Rosario in Bogotá, they finally realised that the fossils came from the upper shells of marine turtles. They estimate that the turtles were one year or younger when they died.
“We resolved a small palaeobotanical mystery, but more importantly, this study shows the need to re-study historical collections in Colombia,” said Herrera.
(With inputs from agencies)
