Dinosaur Evolution: Feathers Up for Selection
نویسنده
چکیده
A new specimen of the early bird Archaeopteryx shows remarkable plumage preservation, including pennaceous leg feathers. But whether birds went through a four-winged stage, and in what exact functional context feathers evolved remains a matter of debate.
منابع مشابه
Evolution of dinosaur epidermal structures.
Spectacularly preserved non-avian dinosaurs with integumentary filaments/feathers have revolutionized dinosaur studies and fostered the suggestion that the dinosaur common ancestor possessed complex integumentary structures homologous to feathers. This hypothesis has major implications for interpreting dinosaur biology, but has not been tested rigorously. Using a comprehensive database of dinos...
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For as long as dinosaurs have been known to exist, there has been speculation about their appearance. Fossil feathers can preserve the morphology of color-imparting melanosomes, which allow color patterns in feathered dinosaurs to be reconstructed. Here, we have mapped feather color patterns in a Late Jurassic basal paravian theropod dinosaur. Quantitative comparisons with melanosome shape and ...
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Remarkable feathered dinosaur fossils have blurred the lines between early birds and their non-avian dinosaur relatives. Rapid skeletal evolution and decreasing body size along one particular lineage of theropod dinosaurs paved the way for the spectacular radiation of birds.
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Over the past 10 years, numerous dinosaur specimens covering several major dinosaurian clades have been recovered from the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Group of western Liaoning. Among ornithischians from the Jehol Group, ornithopod fossils shed new light on the evolution of this largest ornithischian group; ankylosaurian discoveries add morphological diversity relevant to the highly specialized anky...
متن کاملPhylogenetic placement, developmental trajectories and evolutionary implications of a feathered dinosaur tail in Mid-Cretaceous amber
In a recent report in Current Biology, Xing and colleagues [1] present a small fragment of a vertebrate tail preserved in amber that bears integumentary appendages (DIP-V-15103, Dexu Institute of Paleontology, Chaozhou, China; Figure 1). Following several analyses using cutting-edge technology the authors conclude that: the tail belongs to a non-avian theropod dinosaur (non-avialan according to...
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ورودعنوان ژورنال:
- Current Biology
دوره 24 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2014