Is it scale-like or smooth? It has long been one of the lasting questions about paleontology’s plesiosaurus. Experts know details of their diet, size and general habitat, but the skin characteristics of aquatic reptiles remain a mystery. However, researchers at Lund University in Sweden analyzed fossilized soft tissue samples of rare plesiosaurus specimens. And now they believe they can finally answer decades old questions. There were a few of both.
“The Reconstruction of the Classic Life of Plesioasurs (Plesiosauria), a long neck, compact body and four propulsive flippers, and has remained unchanged for nearly 200 years. However, the actual appearance of these famous Mesozoic reptiles is largely unknown,” the team explained in their paper published in the journal on February 6th. Current Biology.
Paleontologists previously examined the fossilized soft tissues of other prehistoric marine reptiles, including ancient sea turtles and shallow fish. Plesioasurs has proven to be far more difficult to study, as there have been only about eight known fossil tissue samples so far. As New Scientist Explaining Thursday, this is especially true given that most cases belong to museums that prohibit the use of potentially destructive imaging tools. However, paleontologists finally got their chance with a fossil set known as the MH7, but it took them years to reach that point.
From 85 excavation of the MH7 to excavation to laboratory analysis, Journey began in 1940 when German paleontologists first discovered its fossil inside a quarry. Due to the continued dangers of World War II, the MH7 was subsequently embedded in the garden to protect it from accidental damage to the garden. Researchers excavated the fossils again after the war ended, but this time they kept the safety of Ulweldmusem Hauf, located in the nearby town of Holzmadden.
In 2020, paleontologists at Lund University finally arranged for the first detailed histology examination to assemble and prepare an 11.5-foot long MH7 of 183 million people. The researchers first treated and sterilized thin slices of fossil using a mixture of ultrapure water and ethanol. Degroughed samples were then placed on slides and selection was examined using techniques such as transmit light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, electron posterior diffraction, and infrared microscopy.
The team may originally have the unscaled quality of the skin as Ikchosaurus dolphins, but I was amazed at what they found: areas of both scaly and smooth skin . More specifically, the flipper appears to have a scaly section, but the rest of its body and tail do not appear to have scales. Researchers theorized the texture flippers. The animals were able to move better along the seabed while searching for prey, and the swimming parts swim to reduce drag. Taking it perfectly, the skin of the plesioaurus may have looked like a mixture of what is found in today’s green sea and leatherback turtles.
This is a combination that paid off by the Plecioaurus. The tail skin suggests a smooth body, but “along the subsequent edge of the flipper, some functional roles were undoubtedly fulfilled,” the scale writes, and the overall anatomy is “It gave the selective advantage of plesiosauce during its long-term evolution.” The most successful “ancient flipper reptile.
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