⇩ᵈᵒʇ⇩Feb 7
Sven Sachs
! Big plesiosaur news !
Our paper that might change the way we look at plesiosaurs is published in Current Biology. We describe for the first time evidence for pigment cells and provide a detailed analysis of scales in a plesiosaur. We found scale-like structures at the limbs that may had a hydrodynamic effect and stiffened the paddles. Body and tail were scale-less.
I thank Miguel Marx and my fellow co-authors for being part of the team.
Artwork: Joschua Knüppe.
#science #news #biology #nature
Feb 6 at 3:54pmWeb
Show threadSven SachsFeb 6
Here is the link to the paper: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)00001-6
Show threadAdam S. SmithFeb 6
@dinosven Congratulations, this is important, I’m keen to delve in! By the way, you can edit posts here if you want to add the link to the first post and have enough spare characters . :)
Show threadSven SachsFeb 6
@AdamStuartSmith Thanks Adam, also for the hint that posts can be modified 😃
Show threadAdam S. SmithFeb 6
@dinosven No problem! I’m reading the paper now, what an amazing specimen, even without the soft tissue! I’m sure I’ll have questions… 🤓
Show threadMike Taylor 🦕Feb 6
@dinosven Oh, that's really interesting! I can't think of any other animals where the limbs are scaled but the torso and tail are not (unless you count birds, I suppose).
Show threadAdam S. SmithFeb 6
@dinosven I’m interested to see how it compares to the rectangle scales described in another plesiosaur specimen.
Show threadAdam S. SmithFeb 6
@dinosven Nice artwork too! #plesiosaur
Show thread⇩ᵈᵒʇ⇩Feb 6

@dinosven
I have two requests:

1. if you write texts here in English, please make sure that you also set the appropriate language. Otherwise many German readers will not see the automatically generated “Translate” link.

2. please always add an alt description to the images. Not everyone can see these. (If the language is set correctly, this text can then also be translated automatically).

(You can also edit both later).