Integumentary structure and composition in an exceptionally well-preserved hadrosaur (Dinosauria: Ornithischia).

ABSTRACT: Preserved labile tissues (e.g., skin, muscle) in the fossil record of terrestrial vertebrates are increasingly becoming recognized as an important source of biological and taphonomic information. Here, we combine a variety of synchrotron radiation techniques with scanning electron and optical microscopy to elucidate the structure of 72 million-year-old squamous (scaly) skin from a hadrosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada. Scanning electron and optical microscopy independently reveal that the three-dimensionally preserved scales are associated with a band of carbon-rich layers up to a total thickness of ∼75 microns, which is topographically and morphologically congruent with the stratum corneum in modern reptiles. Compositionally, this band deviates from that of the

SUBMITTER: Barbi M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6800526 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature