An international team of paleontologists announced on Friday in Beijing that they have discovered a fossilized snail in a piece of amber that dates back 99 million years.

While most snail fossils retain only their shells, this new discovery contains soft tissue and is the oldest example of it in the world, according to Xing Lida, an assistant professor at the China University of Geoscience and also the leader of the team.

The snail was found at Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar, an area rich in amber fossil discoveries. Amber can contain different kinds of soft tissues, providing valuable palaeontological information.

"A pair of the snail's tentacles and its eyes have been preserved intact in the amber," said Xing.

The research was jointly conducted by scientists from China, Britain, Australia, and Canada. The findings have been published online on the latest issue of the journal Cretaceous Research.

(Top image: A snail found in 99 million year-old amber is the oldest known with preserved soft parts. /Xing Lida Photo via National Geographic)