"Renowned Fossil Revealed as Painted Rock in Paleontological Analysis"

A renowned 280-million-year-old fossil, Tridentinosaurus antiquus, discovered in the Italian Alps in 1931 and thought to show preserved soft tissues, has been revealed to be partly a forgery, with its body outline being painted. New research led by Dr. Valentina Rossi of University College Cork, Ireland, shows that the fossil's celebrated soft tissues are mostly black paint on a carved lizard-shaped rock surface, cautioning against its use in future studies. However, genuine bones and tiny bony scales have been identified, demonstrating how modern analytical paleontology can resolve long-standing enigmas.