Gnatalie is the only green-boned dinosaur found on the planet. She will be on display in LA

[Grim Reaper 6]

Named "Gnatalie" (pronounced Natalie) for the gnats that swarmed during the excavation, the long-necked, long-tailed herbivorous dinosaur's fossils got its unique coloration, a dark mottled olive green, from the mineral celadonite during the fossilization process.

While fossils are typically brown from silica or black from iron minerals, green is rare because celadonite forms in volcanic or hydrothermal conditions that typically destroy buried bones. The celadonite entered the fossils when volcanic activity around 50 million to 80 million years ago made it hot enough to replace a previous mineral.

The dinosaur lived 150 million years ago in the late Jurassic Era, making it older than Tyrannosaurus rex—which lived 66 million to 68 million years ago.

Gnatalie is the only green-boned dinosaur found on the planet. She will be on display in LA (phys.org)

[psyche101]

Rare Green Dinosaur Fossil Discovered In Utah

The collected bones don't belong to a single dinosaur but are instead a mix of parts from two or more prehistoric reptiles of the same species found at the site, according to NetGeo.

The species remains unidentified and may be new to science, but experts believe it likely belongs to the genus diplodocus due to its distinct long neck and four sturdy legs.

The unusual green hue resulted from volcanic activity between 80 to 50 million years ago, which altered the bones' color through the formation of a new green mineral, according to NetGeo.
In November, the green dinosaur skeleton will become the main attraction of a new wing at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.