ReviewProceedings. Biological sciences2015
Interpreting melanin-based coloration through deep time: a critical review.
Review in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 78 citations in OpenAlex.
- Spots All Over: Records of Piebaldism in Red-Tailed SquirrelEcology and evolution · 2026Article
- Evolutionary adaptations of TRPA1 thermosensitivity and skin thermoregulation in vertebrates.iScience · 2025Article
- Fossilized anuran soft tissues reveal a new taphonomic model for the Eocene Geiseltal Konservat-Lagerstätte, Germany.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Shadows in the forest: Uncovering unusual colouration records in mammals from the Ecuadorian Tropical Andes.Biodiversity data journal · 2024Article
- Taphonomic experiments reveal authentic molecular signals for fossil melanins and verify preservation of phaeomelanin in fossils.Nature communications · 2023Article
- The median eyes of trilobites.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Vitamin D in the Context of Evolution.Nutrients · 2022Review
- Review
- Article
- Melanins as Sustainable Resources for Advanced Biotechnological Applications.Global challenges (Hoboken, NJ) · 2021Review
- Type II Opsins in the Eye, the Pineal Complex and the Skin ofFrontiers in neuroanatomy · 2021Review
- Insights into a 429-million-year-old compound eye.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Recent advances in amniote palaeocolour reconstruction and a framework for future research.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2020Article
- Chemical characterization of pterosaur melanin challenges color inferences in extinct animals.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Tissue-specific geometry and chemistry of modern and fossilized melanosomes reveal internal anatomy of extinct vertebrates.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2019Article
- Article
- Production of Melanins With Recombinant Microorganisms.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2019Review
- Article
- Non-integumentary melanosomes can bias reconstructions of the colours of fossil vertebrates.Nature communications · 2018Article
- A bony-crested Jurassic dinosaur with evidence of iridescent plumage highlights complexity in early paravian evolution.Nature communications · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Colour, derived primarily from melanin and/or carotenoid pigments, is integral to many aspects of behaviour in living vertebrates, including social signalling, sexual display and crypsis. Thus, identifying biochromes in extinct animals can shed light on the acquisition and evolution of these biological traits. Both eumelanin and melanin-containing cellular organelles (melanosomes) are preserved in fossils, but recognizing traces of ancient melanin-based coloration is fraught with interpretative ambiguity, especially when observations are based on morphological evidence alone. Assigning microbodies (or, more often reported, their 'mouldic impressions') as melanosome traces without adequately excluding a bacterial origin is also problematic because microbes are pervasive and intimately involved in organismal degradation. Additionally, some forms synthesize melanin. In this review, we survey both vertebrate and microbial melanization, and explore the conflicts influencing assessment of microbodies preserved in association with ancient animal soft tissues. We discuss the types of data used to interpret fossil melanosomes and evaluate whether these are sufficient for definitive diagnosis. Finally, we outline an integrated morphological and geochemical approach for detecting endogenous pigment remains and associated microstructures in multimillion-year-old fossils.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.