CORVALLIS - Scientists from Oregon State University and the Natural History Museum in London have announced the discovery of the oldest known fossil of a gecko, with body parts that are forever preserved in lifelike form after 100 million years of being entombed in amber.

Due to the remarkable preservative power of being embalmed in amber, the tiny foot of this ancient lizard still shows the tiny "lamellae," or sticky toe hairs, that to this day give modern geckos their unusual ability to cling to surfaces or run across a ceiling. Research programs around the world have tried to mimic this bizarre adhesive capability, with limited success.

The fossilized gecko's running days are over, however, as only the foot, toes and part of a tail are left in the stone. The rest might have become lunch for a small dinosaur or other predator during an ancient fight in the tropical forests of Burma during the Lower Cretaceous Period, from 97 million to 110 million years ago.

The find is at least 40 million years older than the oldest known gecko fossil, shedding additional light on the evolution and history of these ancient lizards that scampered among the feet of giant dinosaurs then and still are common in tropical and subtropical regions all over the world.

The findings were just published in Zootaxa, a professional journal. The amber fossil was mined in the Hukawng Valley in Burma.

"It's the unusual toe pads and clinging ability of some geckos that make them such a fascinating group of animals, so we were very fortunate to find such a well-preserved foot in this fossil specimen," said George Poinar Jr., a courtesy professor at OSU and one of the world's leading experts on insects, plants and other life forms trapped in amber, a semiprecious stone that begins as tree sap.

Based on the number of lamellae found on its toe pads, this gecko was probably a very small juvenile of what would have become a comparatively large adult, possibly up to a foot long, the researchers say. Modern geckos get no more than about 16 inches long, although it's possible there were larger species millions of years ago. The juvenile gecko found in the fossil was less than an inch in length when it died - possibly by being eaten or attacked, since only partial remains were found.

The discovery has been announced as a new genus and specie s of gecko, now extinct, and has been named Cretaceogekko. It had a striped pattern that probably served as camouflage.