Every discovery we make in natural history happens thanks to specimens. Fossil bones, shells, footprints, coprolites, tissue samples—even field notes and photograms—are the building blocks scientists use to tell the story of life on our planet. On Past Time, we talk a LOT about the contributions of museums and scientists to the story of life. However, we don’t often address the specific specimens that help tell that story. Even one little bone can reveal great truths.

Meet DMNH 2018-05-0002, an eyelash-sized bone from the 213-million-year-old Chinle Formation of eastern Arizona. The bone is housed in the fossil collections of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, Texas. DMNH 2018-05-0002 (I refuse to abbreviate!) is a right ilium (pelvic bone) of a frog that was likely only a few centimeters long in life. This fragile treasure is the oldest evidence for a frog on the entire North American continent, predating the next fossil by 30 million years! One little bone leads to a huge expansion in the story of frogs, the most abundant group of amphibians on Earth!

These amazing frogs were published in Biology Letters by Virginia Tech paleontologist Michelle Stocker, a world-renowned expert on Triassic ecosystems. Dr. Stocker and her team have done a lot of recent work on MICROVERTEBRATES, the bones and teeth of tiny animals. Microvertebrate fossil sites are those that preserve large quantities of tiny (~1 centimeter and smaller) bits, and they can tell us a lot about the smaller animals in an environment. Some paleontologists use sifting and fine-mesh screens to collect bones out of these sediments. In this case, Dr. Stocker and her team prepared bones out of blocks of sediment using microscopes and extremely fine tools. Hat-tip specifically to Ben Kligman, a Virginia Ph.D. student who is pioneering these refined preparation techniques!