Everything Dinosaur thanks the Elevation Science Institute for providing some remarkable photographs of fossilised sauropod skin.  The photographs were supplied as part of a media release reporting on the study of juvenile diplodocid integument.  The fossil material originates from the Mother’s Day Quarry (Montana, USA).  The deposits are part of the famous Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic deposits).  The paper provides the first evidence of colour patterning in sauropod dinosaurs.

In situ skin impression photo. Picture credit: Skye Walker/Elevation Science Institute.

Picture credit: Skye Walker/Elevation Science Institute

The picture (above) shows a sauropod skin fossil exposed on the surface of the dig site.

To read Everything Dinosaur’s blog post about the scientific paper: Sauropod Dinosaur Skin Study Reveals Colour Patterning.

Integumentary Fossils

Integumentary fossils such as the ones used in this new study representing sauropod skin help to provide an understanding of sauropod physiology. In addition, ideas about life reconstructions and their colouration can be presented.  Writing in the open-access Royal Society Open Science, the researchers used scanning electron microscopy to reveal two fossilised epidermal layers in the diplodocid scales.  These layers varied in their microbody and carbon density.

The presence of two preserved microbodies with different shapes in the fossil scales of juvenile sauropods is interpreted as fossil melanosomes within preserved epidermis. Sauropods could have been more colourful than previously thought.

One of the authors of the study Tess Gallagher (University of Bristol) discussed this research when she met up with us at DinoCon. We congratulate Tess and the rest of the team on their remarkable research, and we wish them every success with their future studies.

Researcher Tess Gallagher at the Mother’s Day Site in 2023 with a Diplodocus femur. Picture credit: Elevation Science Institute.

Picture credit: Elevation Science Institute

Everything Dinosaur acknowledges the assistance of a media release from the Elevation Science Institute for Natural History Exploration in the compilation of this article.

The scientific paper: “Fossilized melanosomes reveal colour patterning of a sauropod dinosaur” by Tess Gallagher, Dan Folkes, Michael Pittman, Tom G. Kaye, Glenn W. Storrs and Jason Schein published in the Royal Society Open Science.

For sauropod models and other prehistoric animal figures: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Models.