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| Exquisitely-Preserved Nodosaur Named, Displays Pigmentation Remnants; Borealopelta markmitchelli discovered to have displayed countershading | |
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| Topic Started: Aug 6 2017, 12:46 AM (329 Views) | |
| Sphenodon | Aug 6 2017, 12:46 AM Post #1 |
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Calcareous
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The wonderfully-preserved nodosaur specimen from Alberta described earlier this year (and covered extensively in the media, as well as on this very forum) has been assigned an official binomial name following formal analysis: Borealopelta markmitchelli, named in honor of the Royal Tyrell Museum technician who spent over 7,000 hours in the process of preparing the fossil. Phylogenetic study supports it as a sister taxon to Pawpawsaurus, with the two forming a sister clade to that of Europelta. Phylogenetic Analysis Making the fossil even more noteworthy is the presence of pigment remnants within the keratinous osteoderm sheaths, scales, and inter-scale hinge regions. The pigmented dorsal regions appear to have been reddish-brown in the living animal, while the ventral areas seem to have been unpigmented, indicating that Borealopelta exhibited counter-shading. Also noteworthy is the lighter coloration within the keratin sheath of the enlarged parascapular spines; combined with the comparatively large size of the sheath as compared to the underlying bone in relation to other spines, it is theorized that the parascapular spines may have manifested a more display-oriented than combative role. Preservation Diagram Link to the paper. Edited by Sphenodon, Aug 6 2017, 01:20 AM.
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We have a Discord server! If you would like to join, simply message myself, Flisch, or Icthyander. Some of my ideas (nothing real yet, but soon): Refugium: A last chance for collapsing ecosystems and their inhabitants. Pansauria: A terraforming project featuring the evolution of exactly one animal - the marine iguana. Mars Renewed: An insight into the life of Mars thirty million years after its terraforming by humankind. Microcosm: An exceedingly small environment. Alcyon: A planet colonized by species remodeled into new niches by genetic engineering. Oddballs: Aberrant representatives of various biological groups compete and coexist. ..and probably some other stuff at some point (perhaps a no K-T project). Stay tuned! | |
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| LittleLazyLass | Aug 6 2017, 06:46 AM Post #2 |
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Proud quilt in a bag
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This is the best reconstruction I've seen: Spoiler: click to toggle The main one floating around completely misses the lightened colour of the parascalpular spines.I've known about this for a few days now, but didn't post anything because the paper is... disappointing. We've heard about most of the pigment stuff before, so this is just a super technical look at it, and the countershading stuff isn't quite revolutionary either. The actual description is a paultry three pages and thrown into the supplementary info, and it doesn't even cover the whole extent of the specimen, because it was apparently not fully prepared and studied, or something? The phylogenetic analysis is also thrown into the supplementary info and even the paper says their topology is poorly supported. Perhaps the best thing to come out of this is that it has a name (although why it isn't B. mitchelli is beyond me), and maybe some of the figures; although we already had some pretty fantastic photos of the specimen. Looks like Borealopelta is going into the "wait for the monograph" bucket. |
totally not British, b-baka! You like me (Unlike)I don't even really like this song that much but the title is pretty relatable sometimes, I guess. Me What, you want me to tell you what these mean? Read First Words Maybe | |
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