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Taphonomic patterns mimic biologic structures: diagenetic Liesegang rings in Mesozoic coleoids and coprolites

Because of physiology of coleoids, their fossils preserve soft-tissue-remains more often than other cephalopods. Sometimes, the phosphatized soft-tissues, particularly parts of the muscular mantle, display dark circular patterns. Here, we showcase that these patterns, here documented for fossil cole...

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Autores principales: Klug, Christian, Di Silvestro, Gianpaolo, Hoffmann, Rene, Schweigert, Guenter, Fuchs, Dirk, Clements, Thomas, Gueriau, Pierre
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7811783/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33520466
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10703
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author Klug, Christian
Di Silvestro, Gianpaolo
Hoffmann, Rene
Schweigert, Guenter
Fuchs, Dirk
Clements, Thomas
Gueriau, Pierre
author_facet Klug, Christian
Di Silvestro, Gianpaolo
Hoffmann, Rene
Schweigert, Guenter
Fuchs, Dirk
Clements, Thomas
Gueriau, Pierre
author_sort Klug, Christian
collection PubMed
description Because of physiology of coleoids, their fossils preserve soft-tissue-remains more often than other cephalopods. Sometimes, the phosphatized soft-tissues, particularly parts of the muscular mantle, display dark circular patterns. Here, we showcase that these patterns, here documented for fossil coleoids from the Jurassic of Germany and the Cretaceous of Lebanon, superficially resemble chromatophores (which enable living coleoids to alter their coloration). We examined and chemically analyzed the circular structures in these specimens, describe them, and discuss their genesis. Based on their structure and color, we visually differentiate between three types of circles. By comparison with similar structures, we suggest that these structures are not biogenic but Liesegang rings, which formed due to reaction-diffusion processes very soon after death.
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spelling pubmed-78117832021-01-28 Taphonomic patterns mimic biologic structures: diagenetic Liesegang rings in Mesozoic coleoids and coprolites Klug, Christian Di Silvestro, Gianpaolo Hoffmann, Rene Schweigert, Guenter Fuchs, Dirk Clements, Thomas Gueriau, Pierre PeerJ Marine Biology Because of physiology of coleoids, their fossils preserve soft-tissue-remains more often than other cephalopods. Sometimes, the phosphatized soft-tissues, particularly parts of the muscular mantle, display dark circular patterns. Here, we showcase that these patterns, here documented for fossil coleoids from the Jurassic of Germany and the Cretaceous of Lebanon, superficially resemble chromatophores (which enable living coleoids to alter their coloration). We examined and chemically analyzed the circular structures in these specimens, describe them, and discuss their genesis. Based on their structure and color, we visually differentiate between three types of circles. By comparison with similar structures, we suggest that these structures are not biogenic but Liesegang rings, which formed due to reaction-diffusion processes very soon after death. PeerJ Inc. 2021-01-14 /pmc/articles/PMC7811783/ /pubmed/33520466 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10703 Text en © 2021 Klug et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Marine Biology
Klug, Christian
Di Silvestro, Gianpaolo
Hoffmann, Rene
Schweigert, Guenter
Fuchs, Dirk
Clements, Thomas
Gueriau, Pierre
Taphonomic patterns mimic biologic structures: diagenetic Liesegang rings in Mesozoic coleoids and coprolites
title Taphonomic patterns mimic biologic structures: diagenetic Liesegang rings in Mesozoic coleoids and coprolites
title_full Taphonomic patterns mimic biologic structures: diagenetic Liesegang rings in Mesozoic coleoids and coprolites
title_fullStr Taphonomic patterns mimic biologic structures: diagenetic Liesegang rings in Mesozoic coleoids and coprolites
title_full_unstemmed Taphonomic patterns mimic biologic structures: diagenetic Liesegang rings in Mesozoic coleoids and coprolites
title_short Taphonomic patterns mimic biologic structures: diagenetic Liesegang rings in Mesozoic coleoids and coprolites
title_sort taphonomic patterns mimic biologic structures: diagenetic liesegang rings in mesozoic coleoids and coprolites
topic Marine Biology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7811783/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33520466
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10703
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