300 million-year-old tail print shows that scales evolved earlier than expected https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/06/scales-helped-reptiles-conquer-the-land-when-did-they-first-evolve/

A diadectid skin impression and its implications for the evolutionary origin of epidermal scales https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2024.0041

"the epidermal scales in #diadectids and other terrestrial #tetrapods prevented the evaporation of water from their bodies, which may have helped them survive the #desert climate that prevailed on #Pangea during the #Permian"