ArticleNature communications2018
Fossilized skin reveals coevolution with feathers and metabolism in feathered dinosaurs and early birds.
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 13 papers.
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13 citing papers in PubMed, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Mitochondrial PGAM5 modulates methionine metabolism and feather follicle development by targeting Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in broiler chickens.Journal of animal science and biotechnology · 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
- The origin and early evolution of feathers: implications, uncertainties and future prospects.Biology letters · 2025Review
- Cellular structure of dinosaur scales reveals retention of reptile-type skin during the evolutionary transition to feathers.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Fossilized anuran soft tissues reveal a new taphonomic model for the Eocene Geiseltal Konservat-Lagerstätte, Germany.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The evolution of the pectoral extrinsic appendicular and infrahyoid musculature in theropods and its functional and behavioral importance.Journal of anatomy · 2020Article
- Convergent Evolution of Cysteine-Rich Keratins in Hard Skin Appendages of Terrestrial Vertebrates.Molecular biology and evolution · 2020Article
- Recent advances in amniote palaeocolour reconstruction and a framework for future research.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2020Article
- Article
- Taphonomic experiments resolve controls on the preservation of melanosomes and keratinous tissues in feathers.Palaeontology · 2020Article
- Fossils with Feathers and Philosophy of Science.Systematic biology · 2019Article
- Article
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 7 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Feathers are remarkable evolutionary innovations that are associated with complex adaptations of the skin in modern birds. Fossilised feathers in non-avian dinosaurs and basal birds provide insights into feather evolution, but how associated integumentary adaptations evolved is unclear. Here we report the discovery of fossil skin, preserved with remarkable nanoscale fidelity, in three non-avian maniraptoran dinosaurs and a basal bird from the Cretaceous Jehol biota (China). The skin comprises patches of desquamating epidermal corneocytes that preserve a cytoskeletal array of helically coiled α-keratin tonofibrils. This structure confirms that basal birds and non-avian dinosaurs shed small epidermal flakes as in modern mammals and birds, but structural differences imply that these Cretaceous taxa had lower body heat production than modern birds. Feathered epidermis acquired many, but not all, anatomically modern attributes close to the base of the Maniraptora by the Middle Jurassic.
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