ArticleScientific reports2014
Melanosomes or microbes: testing an alternative hypothesis for the origin of microbodies in fossil feathers.
Article in Scientific reports, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed.
- Fossilized anuran soft tissues reveal a new taphonomic model for the Eocene Geiseltal Konservat-Lagerstätte, Germany.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Environmental Factors Affecting Feather Taphonomy.Biology · 2022Article
- Review
- Evidence corroborates identity of isolated fossil feather as a wing covert of Archaeopteryx.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Hierarchical biota-level and taxonomic controls on the chemistry of fossil melanosomes revealed using synchrotron X-ray fluorescence.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Recent advances in amniote palaeocolour reconstruction and a framework for future research.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2020Article
- Taphonomic experiments resolve controls on the preservation of melanosomes and keratinous tissues in feathers.Palaeontology · 2020Article
- Chemical characterization of pterosaur melanin challenges color inferences in extinct animals.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Pheomelanin pigment remnants mapped in fossils of an extinct mammal.Nature communications · 2019Article
- Stable isotopic characterization of a coastal floodplain forest community: a case study for isotopic reconstruction of Mesozoic vertebrate assemblages.Royal Society open science · 2019Article
- Non-integumentary melanosomes can bias reconstructions of the colours of fossil vertebrates.Nature communications · 2018Article
- Article
- Preservation potential of keratin in deep time.PloS one · 2018Article
- Biochemistry and adaptive colouration of an exceptionally preserved juvenile fossil sea turtle.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- Article
- Molecular evidence of keratin and melanosomes in feathers of the Early Cretaceous bird Eoconfuciusornis.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2016Article
- Microscopic and immunohistochemical analyses of the claw of the nesting dinosaur, Citipati osmolskae.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2016Article
- Pigmented anatomy in Carboniferous cyclostomes and the evolution of the vertebrate eye.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2016Article
- Involvement of microbial mats in early fossilization by decay delay and formation of impressions and replicas of vertebrates and invertebrates.Scientific reports · 2016Article
- Fossilization of melanosomes via sulfurization.Palaeontology · 2016Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Microbodies associated with fossil feathers, originally attributed to microbial biofilm, have been reinterpreted as melanosomes: pigment-containing, eukaryotic organelles. This interpretation generated hypotheses regarding coloration in non-avian and avian dinosaurs. Because melanosomes and microbes overlap in size, distribution and morphology, we re-evaluate both hypotheses. We compare melanosomes within feathers of extant chickens with patterns induced by microbial overgrowth on the same feathers, using scanning (SEM), field emission (FESEM) and transmission (TEM) electron microscopy. Melanosomes are always internal, embedded in a morphologically distinct keratinous matrix. Conversely, microbes grow across the surface of feathers in continuous layers, more consistent with published images from fossil feathers. We compare our results to both published literature and new data from a fossil feather ascribed to Gansus yumenensis (ANSP 23403). 'Mouldic impressions' were observed in association with both the feather and sediment grains, supporting a microbial origin. We propose criteria for distinguishing between these two microbodies.
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