Striking reptilian fossil discovered in 1931 found to be fake

A remarkable fossil reptile from the Alps in Italy has turned out to be a fake. What was thought to be soft tissue in the fossil is mostly just black paint daubed onto 280-million-year-old sandstone, an analysis has revealed.

The ‘fossil’ of an intriguing lizard-like creature with a slender body and long neck was discovered in 1931 and acquired by the University of Padua. There are some genuine poorly preserved hindlimbs on the sandstone, but the striking lizard-like outline was painted on by an unknown hand prior to the fossil being officially described in 1959.