Paleontologists in China have made an exciting discovery: a nearly complete skeleton of a new iguanodontian dinosaur species named Haolong dongi. This find is particularly special because it includes incredibly detailed fossilized skin. This skin shows features never seen before in other non-avian dinosaurs.
Haolong dongi lived about 125 million years ago in what is now northeastern China, during the Early Cretaceous period. Iguanodontians are a significant group of dinosaurs known for being dominant herbivores at that time. They evolved between early bipedal dinosaurs and advanced duck-billed dinosaurs.
Dr. Pascal Godefroit and his colleagues highlighted that iguanodontians thrived throughout the Cretaceous, especially as duck-billed dinosaurs became widespread. The preservation of skin and scales in this new species offers fresh insight into the appearance and lifestyle of these ancient creatures.
While we know a lot about the complex skin of hadrosaurs from fossil finds in North America and Mongolia, there hasn’t been much information on the skin of earlier iguanodontians. Researchers previously found only limited scaly imprints in a few species, suggesting a similar pattern to hadrosaurs but leaving many questions unanswered.
The discovery of Haolong dongi sheds light on these gaps. Its fossilized remains include unique features like overlapping scales on the tail and specific tuberculate scales on the neck and torso. What stands out the most are the hollow, cylindrical spikes found among the scales. They are made of a tough outer layer with a multi-layered inner structure, possibly serving multiple purposes.
These spikes might have deterred predators or helped in temperature regulation and sensing the environment. Researchers believe this anatomy indicates a separate evolutionary line, distinct from the protofeathers of some other dinosaurs and the scales of modern lizards.
This groundbreaking research was published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, and it opens new pathways for understanding dinosaur skin and its evolution. As our knowledge about these incredible creatures expands, we get a clearer picture of their lives and environments millions of years ago.
To learn more about the study, you can read the full paper here.
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China,Cretaceous,Dinosaur,Fossil,Haolong,Haolong dongi,Iguanodontia,Integument,Ornithopoda,Skin,Spike,Yixian Formation
