ArticlePloS one2016
Laser Fluorescence Illuminates the Soft Tissue and Life Habits of the Early Cretaceous Bird Confuciusornis.
Article in PloS one, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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20 citing papers in PubMed.
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- Enlargement of sternum traits facilitated the evolution of powered flight in birds.Nature ecology & evolution · 2025Article
- Forelimb feathering, soft tissues, and skeleton of the flying dromaeosaurid Microraptor.BMC ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- The first Silurian horseshoe crab reveals details of the xiphosuran ground plan.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Insights into the early evolution of modern avian physiology from fossilized soft tissues from the Mesozoic.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Review
- Earliest evidence of avian primary feather moult.Biology letters · 2024Article
- Fossil evidence sheds light on sexual selection during the early evolution of birds.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- A new confuciusornithid bird with a secondary epiphyseal ossification reveals phylogenetic changes in confuciusornithid flight mode.Communications biology · 2022Article
- Exceptional preservation and foot structure reveal ecological transitions and lifestyles of early theropod flyers.Nature communications · 2022Article
- Laser-stimulated fluorescence reveals unseen details in fossils from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Limestones.Royal Society open science · 2021Article
- The diet of early birds based on modern and fossil evidence and a new framework for its reconstruction.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2021Review
- Article
- Recent advances in amniote palaeocolour reconstruction and a framework for future research.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2020Article
- Inferring lifestyle for Aves and Theropoda: A model based on curvatures of extant avian ungual bones.PloS one · 2020Article
- Applications of chemical imaging techniques in paleontology.National science review · 2019Review
- Fully fledged enantiornithine hatchling revealed by Laser-Stimulated Fluorescence supports precocial nesting behavior.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Exquisitely-preserved, high-definition skin traces in diminutive theropod tracks from the Cretaceous of Korea.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Detection of lost calamus challenges identity of isolated Archaeopteryx feather.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Fossilized skin reveals coevolution with feathers and metabolism in feathered dinosaurs and early birds.Nature communications · 2018Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In this paper we report the discovery of non-plumage soft tissues in Confuciusornis, a basal beaked bird from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota in northeastern China. Various soft tissues are visualized and interpreted through the use of laser-stimulated fluorescence, providing much novel anatomical information about this early bird, specifically reticulate scales covering the feet, and the well-developed and robust pro- and postpatagium. We also include a direct comparison between the forelimb soft tissues of Confuciusornis and modern avian patagia. Furthermore, apparently large, fleshy phalangeal pads are preserved on the feet. The reticulate scales, robust phalangeal pads as well as the highly recurved pedal claws strongly support Confuciusornis as an arboreal bird. Reticulate scales are more rounded than scutate scales and do not overlap, thus allowing for more flexibility in the toe. The extent of the pro- and postpatagium and the robust primary feather rachises are evidence that Confuciusornis was capable of powered flight, contrary to previous reports suggesting otherwise. A unique avian wing shape is also reconstructed based on plumage preserved. These soft tissues combined indicate an arboreal bird with the capacity for short-term (non-migratory) flight, and suggest that, although primitive, Confuciusornis already possessed many relatively advanced avian anatomical characteristics.
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