Light and Electron Microscopic Study of Soft Bone Osteocytes From a Triceratops horridus Supraorbital Horn

We reported soft sheets of fibrillar bone tissues from an intact Triceratops horn from the Hell Creek Formation in MT [6]. We illustrated red blood cell (RBC) like microstructures, oblate and stellate osteocytes, and organelle-like components within osteocytes. Soft vessels were found protruding from fractured Triceratops ribs, but no soft vessels were found in the horn. Our findings are significant and unique due to the decomposed nature of the horn and the presence of wet matrix, fungal hyphae (Figure 1), plant roots (Figure 2) and the ubiquitous presence of microorganisms.