Three-dimensional soft tissue preservation revealed in the skin of a non-avian dinosaur |
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Authors: | Matteo Fabbri Jasmina Wiemann Fabio Manucci Derek E G Briggs |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Geology & Geophysics, Yale University, PO Box 2. 208109, New Haven, CT, 06520 USA;3. Geo-Model, via Abbate Tommaso 78, Altino (VE), 30020 Italy |
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Abstract: | The most commonly preserved soft tissues associated with ornithischian dinosaurs are skin remains. The apparent resistance of hadrosaur skin to decay, and its abundance in the fossil record relative to that of other tetrapods, has been attributed to factors such as thickness and composition. Here we report additional intrinsic factors within hadrosaur skin: 3D-preserved eumelanin-bearing bodies, dermal cells and blood vessel fragments in an organic matrix composed of protein fossilization products. The skin is much thinner than that of living mammals of similar size. It is likely that the preservation of hadrosaur skin is related to the arrangement of the layers composing it. |
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Keywords: | skin taphonomy hadrosaur melanin soft tissue |
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