PHILADELPHIA — Aaron Bauer has traveled the world in search of lizards, logging more than 2 million miles in his quest to identify new species and determine how they fit into the tree of life. He has made more than 100 trips to southern Africa alone.
But when the pandemic restricted his travels, he pivoted to a type of journey he could make while staying in his lab at Villanova University: going back in time.
That’s how Bauer and an international group of collaborators made a rare find this winter, identifying a new species of lizard that had been trapped in amber 110 million years ago.
