From Newsgroup: sci.bio.paleontology
Duck-billed dinosaur fleshy midline and hooves reveal terrestrial clay-template "mummification"
Abstract
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 shows that all the fossilized integument (skin, spike, hoof) are preserved as a thin (< 1mm) clay
template that formed on the surface of a buried carcass during decay
prior to 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.
Open access:
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adw3536
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2