法国科学家日前在一个有1亿年历史的琥珀中发现了哺乳动物的毛发。由于琥珀中这些毛发被完整地保存下来，在显微镜下，毛发内部结构清晰可见。
法国国家科研中心23日发表公告说，法国雷恩大学科学家在法国夏朗德省发现了这个琥珀，其中含有的早期哺乳动物毛发与今天的哺乳动物毛发非常相似。
科学家认为，拥有这种毛发的哺乳动物应该只有老鼠大小，因为在1亿年前的白垩纪中期，哺乳动物形体都很小，其种类并不十分多样化。它可能是一种普通哺乳动物或有袋类哺乳动物。后者的胚胎会在保育袋内发育，比如今天的袋鼠就是此类动物。
科学家说，发现琥珀的地方1亿年前的气候是亚热带气候，当时到处是针叶树林，树脂经常会从树上掉下来，包裹住一些动植物，经过岁月的洗礼最终变成琥珀。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原文出处：
Naturwissenschaften doi：10.1007/s00114-010-0677-8
Mammalian hairs in Early Cretaceous amber
Romain Vullo1 , Vincent Girard2 , Dany Azar3 and Didier Néraudeau1
(1) Université de Rennes 1, UMR CNRS 6118, Campus de Beaulieu, avenue du général Leclerc, 35042 Rennes, France
(2) Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
(3) Faculty of Sciences II, Department of Biology, Lebanese University, P.O. Box 26110217, Fanar-Matn, Lebanon
Two mammalian hairs have been found in association with an empty puparium in a ～100-million-year-old amber (Early Cretaceous) from France. Although hair is known to be an ancestral, ubiquitous feature in the crown Mammalia, the structure of Mesozoic hair has never been described. In contrast to fur and hair of some Jurassic and Cretaceous mammals preserved as carbonized filaments, the exceptional preservation of the fossils described here allows for the study of the cuticular structure. Results show the oldest direct evidence of hair with a modern scale pattern. This discovery implies that the morphology of hair cuticula may have remained unchanged throughout most of mammalian evolution. The association of these hairs with a possible fly puparium provides paleoecological information and indicates peculiar taphonomic conditions.
