1. Pterosaur melanosomes support signalling functions for early feathers.
- Author
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Cincotta A, Nicolaï M, Campos HBN, McNamara M, D'Alba L, Shawkey MD, Kischlat EE, Yans J, Carleer R, Escuillié F, and Godefroit P
- Subjects
- Animals, Pigmentation, Biological Evolution, Dinosaurs anatomy & histology, Feathers, Fossils, Melanosomes
- Abstract
Remarkably well-preserved soft tissues in Mesozoic fossils have yielded substantial insights into the evolution of feathers
1 . New evidence of branched feathers in pterosaurs suggests that feathers originated in the avemetatarsalian ancestor of pterosaurs and dinosaurs in the Early Triassic2 , but the homology of these pterosaur structures with feathers is controversial3,4 . Reports of pterosaur feathers with homogeneous ovoid melanosome geometries2,5 suggest that they exhibited limited variation in colour, supporting hypotheses that early feathers functioned primarily in thermoregulation6 . Here we report the presence of diverse melanosome geometries in the skin and simple and branched feathers of a tapejarid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous found in Brazil. The melanosomes form distinct populations in different feather types and the skin, a feature previously known only in theropod dinosaurs, including birds. These tissue-specific melanosome geometries in pterosaurs indicate that manipulation of feather colour-and thus functions of feathers in visual communication-has deep evolutionary origins. These features show that genetic regulation of melanosome chemistry and shape7-9 was active early in feather evolution., (© 2022. The Author(s).)- Published
- 2022
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