Journal
LETHAIA
Volume 45, Issue 4, Pages 495-499Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1502-3931.2012.00309.x
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico [proc. 78537/2008-5]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Pinheiro F.L., Horn B.L.D., Schultz C.L., de Andrade J.A.F.G. and Sucerquia P.A., 2012: Fossilized bacteria in a Cretaceous pterosaur headcrest. Lethaia, Vol. 45, pp. 495-499. We report herein the first evidence of bacterial autolithification in the Crato Formation of Araripe Basin, Brazil. The fossilized bacteria are associated with a tapejarid pterosaur skull, replacing the soft-tissue extension of the headcrest. EDS analyses indicate that the bacteria were replaced by phosphate minerals, probably apatite. The bacterial biofilm was likely part of the prokaryotic mat that decomposed the pterosaur carcass at the bottom of the Araripe lagoon. This work suggests that bacterial autolithification could have played a key-role on soft-tissue preservation of Crato Formation Lagerstatte. ?Bacterial autolithification, Crato Formation, phosphatization, pterosaur, soft-tissue preservation.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available