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Milano: first Italian Triassic scorpion discovered

Studied at the Museum, the fossil is the example of a new species, it is 240 million years old and lived in Lombardy even before the dinosaurs

Milano: first Italian Triassic scorpion discovered.

A important new discovery paleontological among the fossils preserved at Natural History Museum of Milano and extracts from UNESCO deposit of Besano-Monte San Giorgio. A small piece of dolomite rock, split open, revealed the body of a scorpion. At just 4,4 centimeters in length, the animal is preserved intact, with eyes, legs and tail complete with sting.

Coordinated by the paleontologist of the Natural History Museum Cristiano Dal Sasso, researchers Marco Viaretti and Gabriele Bindellini, belonging to the Department of Earth Sciences “A. Desio” of the University of Milano, have studied in detail a precious scorpion fossil, discovering that it is one new species, now officially christened Protobuthus ziliolii in the international scientific journal Paläontologisches Zeitschrift. Terrestrial arthropods are very rare fossils. This exemplary is the first scorpion of the Mesozoic Era discovered in Italy and the second species in the world of the Protobuthus genus.

Milano: scoperto un primo scorpione triassico italiano

"My congratulations to the research team for the important discovery, which confirms the identity of the Milanese civic museums as important centers of scientific and artistic research – said the Councilor for Culture Tommaso Sacchi –. In particular, the Natural History Museum, in addition to a team of competent and passionate conservators, has several technical laboratories for the study and conservation of the rich museum collections, which allow not only their valorization, but also continuous work of analysis and research. A constant commitment that makes the Museum a living and constantly evolving organism, and which the community shows to appreciate very much since it continues to be one of the most visited museums in the city".

With the help of UV light and the scanning electron microscope present in the laboratories of the Natural History Museum of Milano and led by the technician Michele Zilioli, the team of Italian paleontologists ascertained that “iThe fossil is the body of the scorpion itself and not a simple 'exuvia', that is, it is not the empty exoskeleton, which arthropods abandon several times as they grow during their life, and which therefore has more possibility of fossilising than the original body - explains Viaretti –. It is precisely the original body, which preserved the keeled ornamentation, which allowed us to distinguish it from other Protobuthus and to establish that it was a still unknown species".

Il fossil was extracted from the upper layers of the Besano deposit, in the province of Varese, one of the most important fossil deposits in the world from the Middle Triassic, a geological era between 247 and 237 million years ago. THE fossils from this mountain, known for their variety and exceptional state of conservation, were brought to light and analyzed starting from 1850 by Swiss and Italian paleontologists. “Those sediments therefore confirm that they were deposited in shallow water, not far from the shore from which the scorpion carcass came - says Bindellini –. The underlying sediments, however, were formed in earlier times, when that basin was much deeper. And in fact they contain open sea fish and typically marine reptiles, such as the ichthyosaurs that have made the Besano-Monte San Giorgio deposit famous throughout the world" concludes Dal Sasso.

Il artefact has not yet been exhibited to the public, but it will certainly be part of a new route dedicated to Lombard fossils, which will be set up in the coming years on the ground floor of the Natural History Museum of Milano.

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