Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42491552›Full record

ArticleiScience2026

Multi-staged mineralization and biomarker preservation in a 113-million-year-old pterosaur bone via redox shifts in diagenesis.

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 and 17 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in iScience, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

27 authors.

Kliti GriceWestern Australian Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Stephen F PoropatWestern Australian Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Lorenz SchwarkWestern Australian Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Maria A Diaz MateusWestern Australian Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Paul F GreenwoodWestern Australian Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Luke M BrosnanWestern Australian Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Madison TrippWestern Australian Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Amy L ElsonWestern Australian Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Andrew J Y JianWestern Australian Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Antônio A F SaraivaDepartment of Biological Sciences, Regional University of Cariri, Crato, Ceará, Brazil.
Renan A M BantimDepartment of Biological Sciences, Regional University of Cariri, Crato, Ceará, Brazil.
Julien DemoreWestern Australian Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Alex I HolmanWestern Australian Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Michael E BöttcherGeochemistry and Isotope Biogeochemistry, Leibniz-Institute for Baltic Sea Research (IOW), Warnemünde, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.
Adele H PentlandWestern Australian Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Robert H C MaddenMicroanalysis Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
Peter HopperWestern Australian Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Xiao SunJohn de Laeter Centre, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Aaron DoddJohn de Laeter Centre, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Arthur V de OliveiraJohn de Laeter Centre, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Pieter T VisscherWestern Australian Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
William D A RickardJohn de Laeter Centre, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Juliana M SayãoLaboratory of Systematics and Taphonomy of Fossil Vertebrates, Department of Geology and Paleontology, Museu Nacional (MN)/Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Hossein Rahimpour-BonabWestern Australian Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Iris SchmiedingerGeochemistry and Isotope Biogeochemistry, Leibniz-Institute for Baltic Sea Research (IOW), Warnemünde, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.
Victor O LeshykAzolla Biodesign, Sedona, AZ, USA.
Alexander W A KellnerLaboratory of Systematics and Taphonomy of Fossil Vertebrates, Department of Geology and Paleontology, Museu Nacional (MN)/Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

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

Indexed as

BiogeochemistryEarth sciencesGeologyMethods in earth sciences

Identifiers

PMID42491552
PMCPMC13377889

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.