Duck-billed dinosaur fleshy midline and hooves reveal terrestrial clay-template mummification

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Sereno, Paul C.; Saitta, Evan T.; Vidal, Daniel; Myhrvold, Nathan; Ciudad Real, Maria; Baumgart, Stephanie L.; Bop, Lauren L.; Keillor, Tyler M.; Eriksen, Marcus; Derstler, Kraig
• 署名单位: University of Chicago; University of Chicago; Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia (UNED); Intellectual Ventures; State University System of Florida; University of Florida
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adw3536
• 发表日期: 2026-01-01
• 页码: eadw3536
• 关键词: SOFT-TISSUE; preservation; fossil; EVOLUTION; footprints; TAPHONOMY; skeleton; posture

摘要

Two mummies of the end-Cretaceous duck-billed dinosaur Edmontosaurus annectens preserve a fleshy crest over the neck and trunk, an interdigitating spike row over the hips and tail, and hooves capping the toes of the hind feet. A battery of tests showed that all of the fossilized integument (skin, spike, and hoof) are preserved as a thin (less than 1 millimeter) clay template that formed on the surface of a buried carcass during decay before the loss of all soft tissues and organic compounds. Unlike the underlying permineralized skeletal bone, the integument renderings of these dinosaur mummies are preserved as a thin external clay mask, a templating process documented previously only in anoxic marine settings.