Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30700773›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2019

A fully feathered enantiornithine foot and wing fragment preserved in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber.

Lida Xing, Ryan C McKellar, Jingmai K O'Connor, Ming Bai, Kuowei Tseng, Luis M Chiappe

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
7.5field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 25 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. 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 · 2025
    Review
  2. Article
  3. Symbiosis between Cretaceous dinosaurs and feather-feeding beetles.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.

Lida XingState Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, 100083, China.ORCID 0000-0003-3923-9206
Ryan C McKellarRoyal Saskatchewan Museum, Regina, Saskatchewan, S4P 4W7, Canada. ryan.mckellar@gov.sk.ca.
Jingmai K O'ConnorKey Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Beijing, 100044, China. jingmai@ivpp.ac.cn.
Ming BaiKey Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
Kuowei TsengDepartment of Exercise and Health Science, University of Taipei, Taipei, 11153, China.
Luis M ChiappeDinosaur Institute, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, 90007, USA.
Chinese Academy of Sciences · CNChina University of Geosciences (Beijing) · CNNatural History Museum of Los Angeles County · USUniversity of Kansas · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Over the last three years, Burmese amber (~99 Ma, from Myanmar) has provided a series of immature enantiornithine skeletal remains preserved in varying developmental stages and degrees of completeness. These specimens have improved our knowledge based on compression fossils in Cretaceous sedimentary rocks, adding details of three-dimensional structure and soft tissues that are rarely preserved elsewhere. Here we describe a remarkably well-preserved foot, accompanied by part of the wing plumage. These body parts were likely dismembered, entering the resin due to predatory or scavenging behaviour by a larger animal. The new specimen preserves contour feathers on the pedal phalanges together with enigmatic scutellae scale filament (SSF) feathers on the foot, providing direct analogies to the plumage patterns observed in modern birds, and those cultivated through developmental manipulation studies. Ultimately, this connection may allow researchers to observe how filamentous dinosaur 'protofeathers' developed-testing theories using evolutionary holdovers in modern birds.

Indexed as

AmberBiological EvolutionFeathersFossilsAnimalsDinosaursWings, AnimalAmber

Identifiers

PMID30700773
PMCPMC6353931
OpenAlexW2914572138

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.