‘A Rosetta Stone’: Australian fossil site is a vivid window into 15m-year-old rainforest

Likely to contain dozens of undiscovered species, the site is so well-preserved that the contents of fish stomachs and breathing apparatus of spiders can be seen

The Australian paleontologist Matthew McCurry was digging for Jurassic fossils when a farmer dropped by with news of something he'd seen in his paddock - a fossilised leaf in a piece of hard brown rock.

Fossil leaves are not usually anything to write home about, but the spot was close, so McCurry and his colleague Michael Frese went to take a look.