Editing Camouflage (section)

=== Fossil history ===

Camouflage is a soft-tissue feature that is rarely preserved in the [[fossil]] record, but rare fossilised skin samples from the [[Cretaceous]] period show that some marine reptiles were countershaded. The skins, pigmented with dark-coloured [[eumelanin]], reveal that both [[leatherback turtle]]s and [[mosasaur]]s had dark backs and light bellies.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lindgren |first1=Johan |last2=Sjövall |first2=Peter |last3=Carney |first3=Ryan M. |last4=Udval |first4=Per |last5=Gren |first5=Johan A. |last6=Dyke |first6=Gareth |last7=Schultz |first7=Bo Pagh |last8=Shawkey |first8=Matthew D. |last9=Barnes |first9=Kenneth R. |last10=Polcyn |first10=Michael J. |display-authors=3 |title=Skin pigmentation provides evidence of convergent melanism in extinct marine reptiles |journal=Nature |date=February 2014 |volume=506 |pages=484–488 |doi=10.1038/nature12899 |pmid=24402224 |issue=7489|bibcode=2014Natur.506..484L |s2cid=4468035 }}</ref> There is fossil evidence of camouflaged insects going back over 100&nbsp;million years, for example lacewings larvae that stick debris all over their bodies much as their modern descendants do, hiding them from their prey.<ref>{{cite web |last=Pavid |first=Katie |title=Oldest insect camouflage behaviour revealed by fossils |url=https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2016/june/oldest-insect-camouflage-behaviour-revealed.html |date=28 June 2016}}</ref> Dinosaurs appear to have been camouflaged, as a 120&nbsp;million year old fossil of a ''[[Psittacosaurus]]'' has been preserved with [[countershading]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Watson |first=Traci |title=This Dinosaur Wore Camouflage |website=[[National Geographic Society]] |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/09/dinosaur-camouflage-fossil-find/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191106232025/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/09/dinosaur-camouflage-fossil-find/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 November 2019 |date=14 September 2016}}</ref>