Multi-staged mineralization and biomarker preservation in a 113-million-year-old pterosaur bone via redox shifts in diagenesis
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The combined preservation of soft tissues, biomineralized structures, and molecular biomarkers is rare; yet, such finds offer key insights into ancient physiology, ecology, and taphonomy. We integrate organic geochemical analyses with high-resolution micro-mineral imaging of a three-dimensionally preserved Cretaceous pterosaur wing phalanx from Brazil to reveal steroid biomarkers and multi-stage mineralization pathways underlying its preservation. A localized redox shift toward acidic, oxidative conditions around the carcass played a central role. Microbial decay generated acidity that promoted early phosphate mineralization (fluorapatite), stabilizing tissues. This fluorapatite is associated with barite and celestite indicating a microenvironment with enhanced microbial sulfate production. Following phosphatization, three phases of carbonate mineralization encapsulated organic compounds, protecting them from diagenetic alteration. Molecular analyses report steroids in pterosaurs, with δ 13 C values indicating a fish- and cephalopod-based diet, highlighting early mineralization as key to long-term biomolecule preservation.
Source: iScience
Authors: Kliti Grice, Stephen F. Poropat, Lorenz Schwark, Maria A. Diaz Mateus, Paul F. Greenwood, Luke M. Brosnan, Madison Tripp, Amy L. Elson, Andrew J.Y. Jian, Antônio A.F. Saraiva, Renan A.M. Bantim, Julien Demore, Alex I. Holman, Michael E. Böttcher, Adele H. Pentland, Robert H.C. Madden, Peter Hopper, Xiao Sun, Aaron Dodd, Arthur V. de Oliveira, Pieter T. Visscher, William D.A. Rickard, Juliana M. Sayão, Hossein Rahimpour-Bonab, Iris Schmiedinger, Victor O. Leshyk, Alexander W.A. Kellner
Language: English
Subfield: Paleontology
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,240
Awards: G1542858619, G1704017038, G2526219626, G276872375, G2985004937, Interpreting the molecular record in extraordinarily preserved fossils, G5208127664, G5323220759, G54102170, A novel isotope facility to characterise high-molecular-weight fractions of natural organic matter in soils, sediments, water, petroleum and coal, Hyper-accumulations of monosulfidic sediments: Exploring a biogeochemical extreme to resolve fundamental sulfur biomineralisation pathways., A novel ToF-SIMS facility for organic and inorganic analyses in WA, G7155537984, Advanced gas chromatography mass spectrometry instrumentation for the analysis of highly complex systems
OpenAlex ID: W7165118053