Dino find shows new type of skin texture
Fossils indicate ‘micro-polygons’ within the impressions of reptilian scales
By Larry O'Hanlon
updated 1 hour, 28 minutes ago
Pukyong National University
The micro-polygons within this rock found in
South Korea suggest the impression of reptilian
scales, say researchers.
A new kind of fossil dinosaur skin discovered in South Korea may help sort out the real dino hides from skin-like features in rocks which are nothing of the sort.
Two specimens of fossil dinosaur skin from Cretaceous Haman Formation in South Korea have been found in a pile of rocks blasted to construct a road. The find includes an entirely new type of skin texture.
At the same time, several types of sedimentary accidents that have nothing to do with dinosaurs, but which look very much like skin fossils, were discovered.
The new skin texture is what appears to "micro-polygons" within the impressions of reptilian scales, say the South Korean researchers, who have published their discovery in the upcoming September issue of the Journal of Asian Earth Sciences.
"Fossil skins with similar features to that found in the Haman Formation are interpreted to represent the skin of a hadrosaur or sauropod dinosaur," reports In Sung Paik, a geology professor at Pukyong National University in Busan, South Korea and lead author of the paper. "The development of micro-polygons ... is a new feature of dinosaur skins, reported here for the first time."
More:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37731090/ns/technology_and_science-science/