Rare Fossil Reptile Skin Impression - Green River Formation

This is a rare trace fossil from the Green River Formation of Wyoming. It consists of a 5.7 inch wide body skin impressions and several "tail drag" impressions up to 3.7 inches long, of an unidentified reptile/lizard. It has remarkable definition for a skin impression fossil.

These reptile skin impressions have an interesting story. They were found by Cliff Miles of Western Paleontological Laboratories in the paving stone of a new patio. He tracked the source of the paving stone back to a quarry in the Green River Formation exposed near Ouray, Utah. Unfortunately, very little of the horizon containing the reptile skin impressions was left in the quarry and nearly all of the best specimens collected were cut from the paving stone in his backyard.

There is currently a paper being authored on these reptile skin impressions. There have been a few collected that clearly show impressions of legs (being used in the paper) but most are tail and body impressions.

Reptile skin fossils from the Green River Formation have made some news within the past several years. Fossilized reptile skin from a different location, with unique soft-bodied preservation revealed fossilize protein residue. This fossil, being an impression (trace fossil) not an example of soft bodied preservation would not though.