Photos of fossils in the Messel Pit area

Newly discovered fossils belong to the species Masillamys - a group of rodents with incisors like a carpenter's chisel. This is one of the most intact fossils ever unearthed at Messel Pit, an archaeological site in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Although Messel is now about 20 kilometers southeast of Frankfurt, 47 million years ago, the region was once in the same latitude as Sicily today. The climate is warmer and warmer then creating the biodiversity of the ancient Messel region.

The annual excavation of Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt has helped discover thousands of fossils of primitive rodents, reptiles, insects and animals that once lived in Messel and the surrounding area. in the Eocene century 33.9 - 55.8 million years ago. At that time, the lush land used to be a volcanic lake surrounded by dense forests.

Several collected fossils are currently on display at the museum of the Senckenberg Institute

(Photo: © Senckenberg Research Institute)

In 2007 and 2008, researchers found more than 6,500 shale fossils in the Messel region of Germany, including fossils of a ungulate animal bearing the scientific name Kopidodon macrognathus. The researchers believe that the fossil is a very young male, because it has a large head bone and a growing upper jaw.

Although there are long fangs, but flat molars, specially formed hip joints and forelimbs with the ability to grip show that this is a fruit species, climbing trees rather than carnivores. Scientists hope that the remaining material analysis inside the animal's stomach will reveal more about its life in the past.

(Photo: © Senckenberg Research Institute)

The nearly intact fossil of a lizard found in Germany is thought to be an ancient relative of the monster Gila. Meanwhile, Gila lizards today live only in the desert of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.

This reptile of the reptile class lives 47 million years ago, near a volcanic lake surrounded by a very diverse area of ​​natural biodiversity. Senckenberg researchers, Frankfurt are the ones who directly conducted fossil surveys, they said that the tubes in the teeth show that this prehistoric animal is secrete venom before death.

(Photo: © Senckenberg Research Institute)

Friccomelissa schopowi (Friccomelissa schopowi) is one of more than 1,400 insects that scientists have found fossils in the Messel region near Frankfurt in Germany in 2007 and 2008.

According to researchers at the Senckenberg Institute, unlike its relatives living in the present time, the old Messel bees did not seem to build their nests with leaves.

(Photo: © Senckenberg Research Institute)

This is the fossil of an immature Leptictidium found in Messel in September 2008. This animal is a small carnivorous mammal with a long nose similar to an elephant shrew.

Scientists still do not know whether this animal walks with two legs or jumps like a kangaroo, but in the future, through thorough investigation, it is more likely that they will find the answer.

(Photo: © Senckenberg Research Institute)

47 million years after death, this beetle still wears a colorful shiny shirt like when it was alive.

Both ancient jade and jewel beetles now have colorful iridescence thanks to special external body layers capable of refracting light.

(Photo: © Senckenberg Research Institute)

This queen ant drowned 47 million years ago when it flew through Messel, a large lake created from volcanic activity near Frankfurt, Germany today.

Today Oecophylla ants are found in tropical Africa and Southeast Asia, which are known for their ability to use larvae to weave nests from leaf material.

(Photo: © Senckenberg Research Institute)