2018
Origin of feathers pushed back by 70 million years
19 Dec 2018
The discovery has amazing implications for our understanding of the origin of feathers, but also for a major time of revolution of life on land.
Scientists from University College Cork
have discovered
that pterosaurs had four kinds of feathers, shift
ing
the origin of feathers back by 70 million years.
Ancient flying reptiles featured distinctly dino-like feathers
鈥 Gizmodo (@Gizmodo)
Study of flying reptile sheds light on origin of feathers
鈥 The Irish Times (@IrishTimes)
"The feather has deeper origins, not of a bird but maybe from the ancestors of birds, dinosaurs and pterosaurs鈥
鈥 NYT Science (@NYTScience)
Not just splitting hairs: UCC study pushes origin of feathers back 70m years
鈥 Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer)
Irish scientists have pushed the origin of feathers back by 70 million years.
鈥 The Times IE (@thetimesIE)
, led by researchers from China鈥檚 Nanjing University and UCC鈥檚 Dr Maria McNamara, shows that p
terosaurs, which were flying reptiles that lived side by side with dinosaurs from 230 to 66 million years ago, had at least four types of feathers 鈥 simple filaments (鈥榟airs鈥), bundles of filaments, filaments with a tuft halfway down, and down feathers.
Not everybody is convinced these fossils had feathers. 鈥淚 would challenge nearly all their interpretations of the structures."
鈥 The Scientist (@TheScientistLLC)
Flying reptiles called pterosaurs - who lived alongside dinosaurs from 230 to 66 million years ago - had at least four types of feathers according to a new study
鈥 TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie)
It had long been known that pterosaurs had a furry covering, but these 鈥榩ycnofibres鈥 were thought to be fundamentally different to feathers of dinosaurs and birds.
In fact, the new study
shows that the pycnofibres are indeed feathers, and are similar to the feathers of dinosaurs, including the ancestors of birds.
Dr McNamara said: 鈥淪ome critics have suggested that there is only one simple hair-like type of pycnofibre, but our studies show different structures that we also see in dinosaurs 鈥 real feathers. We focused on areas where the feathers did not overlap and where we could see their structure more clearly. They even show fine details of pigment granules, which may have given the fluffy feathers a ginger colour.鈥
According to Dr McNamara,
鈥
t
his discovery has amazing implications for our understanding of the origin of feathers, but also for a major time of revolution of life on land. When feathers arose, about 250 million years ago, life was recovering from the devastating end-Permian mass
extinction.
鈥
Independent evidence shows that land vertebrates, including the ancestors of mammals and dinosaurs, were beginning to walk upright, had acquired different degrees of warm-bloodedness, and were generally living life at a faster pace. The mammal ancestors by then had hair, so likely the pterosaurs, dinosaurs and relatives had also acquired feathers to help insulate them.鈥
Independent evidence shows that land vertebrates, including the ancestors of mammals and dinosaurs, were beginning to walk upright, had acquired different degrees of warm-bloodedness, and were generally living life at a faster pace. The mammal ancestors by then had hair, so likely the pterosaurs, dinosaurs and relatives had also acquired feathers to help insulate them
, she explained.
The hunt for feathers in fossils is heating up and deciphering their functions in such early animals forms a critical part of the puzzle. It could rewrite our understanding of a major revolution in life on Earth during the Triassic, and our understanding of the genomic regulation of feathers, scales, and hairs in the skin.
Paleontologists found that pterosaurs had at least four types of feathers in common with the dinosaurs they lived alongside 230 to 66 million years ago.
鈥 Stephanie Mlot (@smlot_geek)
Zixiao
Yang and
Baoyu
Jiang, of Nanjing University, studied the rocks from the
Daohugou
fossil localities and the pterosaurs. Mr Yang said 鈥淚 was able to explore every corner of the specimens using high-powered microscopes, and we found many examples of all four feathers.鈥
UCD鈥檚 Prof. Patrick Orr and Prof. Mike Benton from the University of Bristol were also involved in the study. 鈥淲e ran some evolutionary analyses, and they showed clearly that the pterosaur pycnofibres are feathers, just like those seen in modern birds and across various dinosaur groups,鈥 said Prof. Benton.
鈥淏ecause the structures in the pterosaurs have the same anatomy as the feathers of birds and dinosaurs, they must share an evolutionary origin about 250 million years ago, long before the origin of birds.鈥
Breakthrough from scientists in Cork shows flying reptiles had feathers over 200 million years ago
鈥 IrishGeoAssociation (@IrishGeoAssoc)
Evolution BREAKTHROUGH: Feathers 70 million years OLDER than thought could change history
鈥 Daily Star (@Daily_Star)
Birds have two types of advanced feathers used in flight and for body smoothing, the contour feathers with a hollow quill and barbs down both sides. These are found only in birds and the theropod dinosaurs close to bird origins.
However, the other feather types of modern birds include monofilaments and down feathers, and these are seen much more widely across dinosaurs and pterosaurs.
For more on this story contact:
Lynne Nolan, Media & PR Officer, UCC: 087 210 1119 or lynne.nolan@ucc.ie.