An “exquisitely” preserved dinosaur fossil has revealed the soft underbelly of a horned dinosaur from China. Specifically, paleontologists using high-tech laser imaging technology found evidence of a dinosaur that lived 125 million years ago and sported a belly button.
Laser image of the bipedal Psittacosaurus showing the umbilical scar and scales.
Swikar Oli - National Post
The long umbilical scar on the Psittacosaurus specimen is similar to those found on some lizards and crocodiles. Unlike mammals, this reptilian form of belly button is a slit-like opening connecting the embryo to the egg’s yolk sac and other membranes. The yolk sac is absorbed by the dinosaur either immediately before or soon after hatching, leaving behind an opening in the abdominal wall that seals up and appears as a long scar.
While scientists have hypothesized that egg-laying dinosaurs would develop such scars, this is the first time it has been spotted in a non-avian dinosaur.
“We call this kind of scar a belly button, and it is smaller in humans. This specimen is the first dinosaur fossil to preserve a belly button, which is due to its exceptional state of preservation,” said Michael Pittman, one of the study’s authors and a palaeontologists from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
The size, smoothness and location of the umbilical scar rule out trauma or infection as the cause, the study says. The abdominal scale’s pattern was uninterrupted, whereas a healed injury would have a “smooth, scale-free connective tissue over the open wound,” the authors note.
Psittacosaurus (a name that means ‘parrot lizard’) was a two-metre long beaked herbivore that lived in the early Cretaceous. The fossil used in this study was made public in 2002 and has led to big discoveries because of its exceptionally preserved state, complete with scales, horn and “long plumes of tail bristles,” the researchers write.
“This Psittacosaurus specimen is probably the most important fossil we have for studying dinosaur skin. But it continues to yield surprises that we can bring to life with new technology like laser imaging,” the study’s lead author Phil R. Bell from the University of New England in Armidale in Australia told Phys.org .
The palaeontologists compared the length of the specimen’s femur to other Psittacosaurus to estimate its age as just shy of sexual maturity, about 6 or 7 years old. It’s unclear whether the umbilical scar in dinosaurs lasts until adulthood.
The prized specimen is on view at at the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt, Germany.
The size, smoothness and location of the umbilical scar rule out trauma or infection as the cause, the study says. The abdominal scale’s pattern was uninterrupted, whereas a healed injury would have a “smooth, scale-free connective tissue over the open wound,” the authors note.
Psittacosaurus (a name that means ‘parrot lizard’) was a two-metre long beaked herbivore that lived in the early Cretaceous. The fossil used in this study was made public in 2002 and has led to big discoveries because of its exceptionally preserved state, complete with scales, horn and “long plumes of tail bristles,” the researchers write.
“This Psittacosaurus specimen is probably the most important fossil we have for studying dinosaur skin. But it continues to yield surprises that we can bring to life with new technology like laser imaging,” the study’s lead author Phil R. Bell from the University of New England in Armidale in Australia told Phys.org .
The palaeontologists compared the length of the specimen’s femur to other Psittacosaurus to estimate its age as just shy of sexual maturity, about 6 or 7 years old. It’s unclear whether the umbilical scar in dinosaurs lasts until adulthood.
The prized specimen is on view at at the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt, Germany.
No comments:
Post a Comment