From: AM Yates <Adam.Yates@bristol.ac.uk>
Reply-To: Adam.Yates@bristol.ac.uk
To: dbensen <dbensen@gotnet.net>
CC: mbonnan@hotmail.com, dinosaur@usc.edu
Subject: Re: Ichthyosaurus (was Feathering in coelurosaurs)
Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2000 10:43:21 +0100 (BST)
On Wed, 5 Apr 2000, dbensen wrote:
> I'd like to use this opportunity to bring up something that's been
puzzling me.
> Wasn't there something a while back about actualy knowing the coloration
of
> Ichthyosaurus. In the book Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals (primarily
by
> Dougal Dixon) it says, "The remains of pigment cells have also been
preserved
> and the analysis of these suggests that the smooth, thick skin of
Ichthyosaurus
> was a dark reddish-brown color in life." What ever became of that
theory? Is
> it still valid?
I doubt it very much. I recall that taphonomic work has shown that the
so called soft-tissue preservation was actually an algal mat that grew
at the interface between the carcass and the sediment it was lying on.
If this was true I would think that ther preservation of pigment would
be extremely unlikely.
cheers
Adam Yates >