Nonavian feathers in a Late Triassic archosaur

Science

Volumn 288, Issue 5474, 2000, Pages 2202-2205

  Jones, Terry D ^a,h   Ruben, John A ^a   Martin, Larry D ^b   Kurochkin, Evgeny N ^c   Feduccia, Alan ^d   Maderson, Paul F A ^e   Hillenius, Willem J ^f   Geist, Nicholas R ^g   Alifanov, Vladimir ^c  

^a OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS   (United States)

^c PALEONTOLOGICAL INSTITUTE   (Russian Federation)

^d UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA   (United States)

^e CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK   (United States)

^f School of Business   (United States)

^g SONOMA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^h STEPHEN F AUSTIN STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EVOLUTION; FEATHER; FUNCTIONAL MORPHOLOGY; TRIASSIC;

ARCHEOLOGY; ARTICLE; BIRD; COMPARATIVE ANATOMY; EVOLUTION; FEATHER; FOSSIL; INTEGUMENT; NONHUMAN; PRIORITY JOURNAL; SPECIES DIFFERENCE;

ANIMALS; BIRDS; EVOLUTION; FEATHERS; FOSSILS; REPTILES;

ARCHAEOPTERYX; ARCHOSAURIA; AVES; VERTEBRATA;

EID: 0034705599     PISSN: 00368075     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1126/science.288.5474.2202     Document Type: Article

References (12)

1. A. G. Sharov, Palaeontol. J. 1, 127, plate VIII (1970).
2. I. A. Dobruskina, Tr. Paleontol. Inst. Acad. Nauk SSSR 346, 1 (1980).
3. H. Haubold and E. Buffetaut, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 305, 65 (1987).
4. All known specimens of L. insignis are part of the collection of the Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow (PIN). These include specimen number PIN 2584/4: the holotype specimen, slab (and counterslab) of the anterior portion of the body [see Figs. 1, 2, and 6 (right)]; PIN 2584/5: a partial single elongate integumentary appendage (no shaft base preserved) (Fig. 4); PIN 2584/6: the mid-regions of two incomplete elongate integumentary appendages; PIN 2584/7: a partial individual elongate integumentary appendage (no shaft base preserved); and PIN 2584/9: associated distal portions of approximately six incomplete elongate integumentary appendages (Fig. 5). We directly examined these specimens at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, in April 1999.
5. We interpret pinnae to have been distinct from one another, rather than merely plications on a continuous surface, for two reasons. First, the texture and color of the matrix composing the surfaces of the pinnae are qualitatively different from that of the matrix between the pinnae. In a continuous surface, matrix quality would have been more homogenous. Second, some pinnae appear to have been disturbed post-depositionally and are preserved in overlapped positions (Web fig. 2).
6. P. F. A. Maderson et al., J. Morphol. 236, 1 (1998).
7. F. R. Lillie and H. Wang, Physiol. Zool. 14, 103, plates 1 through 8 (1941).
8. A. M. Lucas and P. R. Stettenheim, Avian Anatomy: Integument (Agricultural Handbook 362, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, 1972).
9. P. Stettenheim, in Proceedings of the 16th International Ornithological Congress, Canberra, Australia, August 1974, (Australian Academy of Science, Canberra City, Australia, 1976), pp. 385-401.
10. The animal apparently was preserved in a quiet lacustrine environment. Some skeletal elements were preserved, but most of the right-side elongate integumentary appendages either floated away or rotated caudally. Their preservation probably resulted from infill by fine-grained sediment. Proximally, a few of the left-side shaft bases maintained themselves as hollow tubes that eventually fractured down their centers during compaction. The outer surface of the sheath was essentially featureless, although underlying compacted structures pressed outwardly against it. In the mid-shaft region, the axis and pinnae are sharply defined in places where parts of the epidermal sheath broke away during collection of the specimen. Preservation of the axis and individual pinnae in this region is consistent with there having been enough empty space within the sheath that, when filled with fine-grained mud, the morphology of the structures within was faithfully recorded.
11. A. Feduccia, The Origin and Evolution of Birds (Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, CT, ed. 2, 1999).
12. We thank S. Poitras, C. Campbell, S. Olson, and the Palaeontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences for assistance in procurement of specimens. T. Dujsebayeva's English translation of Sharov's original paper, photographs of modern bird feathers by A. Brower, and J. Atkinson's assistance with juvenile birds were invaluable. Supported by an NSF grant to J.A.R. and W.J.H. and by a Russian Fund for Basic Research Grant to E.N.K. and V.A.