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- Title
Fossilized skin reveals coevolution with feathers and metabolism in feathered dinosaurs and early birds.
- Authors
Hone, David W. E.; McNamara, Maria E.; Rogers, Chris S.; Fucheng Zhang; Kearns, Stuart L.; Benton, Michael J.; Orr, Patrick J.; Foley, Tara; Toulouse, André; Johnson, Diane; Xing Xu; Zhonghe Zhou
- Abstract
Feathers are remarkable evolutionary innovations that are associated with complex adaptations of the skin in modern birds. Fossilised feathers in non-avian dinosaurs and basal birds provide insights into feather evolution, but how associated integumentary adaptations evolved is unclear. Here we report the discovery of fossil skin, preserved with remarkable nanoscale fidelity, in three non-avian maniraptoran dinosaurs and a basal bird from the Cretaceous Jehol biota (China). The skin comprises patches of desquamating epidermal corneocytes that preserve a cytoskeletal array of helically coiled α-keratin tonofibrils. This structure confirms that basal birds and non-avian dinosaurs shed small epidermal flakes as in modern mammals and birds, but structural differences imply that these Cretaceous taxa had lower body heat production than modern birds. Feathered epidermis acquired many, but not all, anatomically modern attributes close to the base of the Maniraptora by the Middle Jurassic.
- Subjects
FEATHERS; FOSSILS; BIOLOGICAL evolution; CYTOSKELETAL proteins; CRETACEOUS Period
- Publication
Nature Communications, 2018, Vol 9, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
2041-1723
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/s41467-018-04443-x