ArticleNature communications2018
A bony-crested Jurassic dinosaur with evidence of iridescent plumage highlights complexity in early paravian evolution.
Article in Nature communications, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers.
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34 citing papers in PubMed, 99 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Jurassic avialan reveals stepwise evolution of bony tail in birds.Science advances · 2026Article
- From melanogenesis to melanin technologies.Communications chemistry · 2025Review
- High melanosome diversity exhibits weak correlation with color and environmental variables in the early evolution of therian mammals.Science advances · 2025Article
- Iridescent structural coloration in a crested Cretaceous enantiornithine bird from the Jehol Biota.eLife · 2025Article
- Forelimb feathering, soft tissues, and skeleton of the flying dromaeosaurid Microraptor.BMC ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Article
- New information on the Hind limb feathering, soft tissues and skeleton of Microraptor (Theropoda: Dromaeosauridae).BMC ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Article
- Transitions between colour mechanisms affect speciation dynamics and range distributions of birds.Nature ecology & evolution · 2024Article
- Article
- Taphonomic experiments reveal authentic molecular signals for fossil melanins and verify preservation of phaeomelanin in fossils.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Article
- Correction statement for Recent advances in amniote palaeocolour reconstruction and a framework for future research (volume 95, issue 1, pp. 22-50).Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2023Article
- Unambiguous evidence of brilliant iridescent feather color from hollow melanosomes in an Early Cretaceous bird.National science review · 2022Article
- The evolution of the pectoral extrinsic appendicular and infrahyoid musculature in theropods and its functional and behavioral importance.Journal of anatomy · 2020Article
- 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
- New theropod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Patagonia sheds light on the paravian radiation in Gondwana.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2020Article
- Cassowary gloss and a novel form of structural color in birds.Science advances · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The Jurassic Yanliao theropods have offered rare glimpses of the early paravian evolution and particularly of bird origins, but, with the exception of the bizarre scansoriopterygids, they have shown similar skeletal and integumentary morphologies. Here we report a distinctive new Yanliao theropod species bearing prominent lacrimal crests, bony ornaments previously known from more basal theropods. It shows longer arm and leg feathers than Anchiornis and tail feathers with asymmetrical vanes forming a tail surface area even larger than that in Archaeopteryx. Nanostructures, interpreted as melanosomes, are morphologically similar to organized, platelet-shaped organelles that produce bright iridescent colours in extant birds. The new species indicates the presence of bony ornaments, feather colour and flight-related features consistent with proposed rapid character evolution and significant diversity in signalling and locomotor strategies near bird origins.
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