Pterosaurs’ amazing coat of many textures
Nature Ecology & Evolution
December 18, 2018
Some pterosaurs were covered by a diverse coat of different feather- and fur-like structures, suggests a paper published online this week in Nature Ecology & Evolution.
Early feathery structures were previously thought to be unique to the group of dinosaurs that includes the ancestors of modern-day birds. Instead, pterosaurs - the first vertebrates to achieve flapping-powered flight - are typically depicted by researchers as having fur.
Baoyu Jiang, Michael Benton and colleagues used microscopic and spectroscopic imaging techniques to study the fossilized remains of two well-preserved, short-tailed pterosaurs that lived in what is now China around 160-165 million years ago. The authors found that these pterosaurs had four different kinds of covering - including fuzzy, fur-like insulating structures over their heads, torsos, limbs and tails; and, on parts of the head and wings, three types of curved, thread-like fibres similar to modern feathers.
The different coverings are likely to have played functional roles in heat regulation, sensing, signalling and aerodynamics. The finding that pterosaurs had feather-like structures suggests either that feathers are either ancestral to both dinosaurs and pterosaurs, or that they evolved independently in both lineages.
In an associated News & Views article, Liliana D’Alba writes that, with future improvements in scanning electron microscopy, we may expect more insights into what exactly dinosaurs and pterosaurs looked like in life.
doi:10.1038/s41559-018-0728-7
Research highlights
-
May 20
Conservation: Web of unmonitored global arachnid trade revealedCommunications Biology
-
May 20
Psychology: People with neutral attitudes towards vaccines are closer to anti-vaccine viewsScientific Reports
-
May 19
Climate change: Tree deaths increasing in AustraliaNature
-
May 18
Evolution: A middle Pleistocene hominin molar from LaosNature Communications
-
May 18
Biotechnology: Contact lens measures pressure and delivers glaucoma drugNature Communications
-
May 17
Geoscience: Biological soil crusts reduce dust blowing in the windNature Geoscience