Key Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 643, Beijing 100044, China.
Nature. 2010 Feb 25;463(7284):1075-8. doi: 10.1038/nature08740. Epub 2010 Jan 27.
Spectacular fossils from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Group of northeastern China have greatly expanded our knowledge of the diversity and palaeobiology of dinosaurs and early birds, and contributed to our understanding of the origin of birds, of flight, and of feathers. Pennaceous (vaned) feathers and integumentary filaments are preserved in birds and non-avian theropod dinosaurs, but little is known of their microstructure. Here we report that melanosomes (colour-bearing organelles) are not only preserved in the pennaceous feathers of early birds, but also in an identical manner in integumentary filaments of non-avian dinosaurs, thus refuting recent claims that the filaments are partially decayed dermal collagen fibres. Examples of both eumelanosomes and phaeomelanosomes have been identified, and they are often preserved in life position within the structure of partially degraded feathers and filaments. Furthermore, the data here provide empirical evidence for reconstructing the colours and colour patterning of these extinct birds and theropod dinosaurs: for example, the dark-coloured stripes on the tail of the theropod dinosaur Sinosauropteryx can reasonably be inferred to have exhibited chestnut to reddish-brown tones.
来自中国东北早白垩世热河群的壮观化石极大地扩展了我们对恐龙和早期鸟类多样性和古生物学的认识，并有助于我们理解鸟类、飞行和羽毛的起源。羽片（有翼的）羽毛和表皮丝状结构保存在鸟类和非鸟类兽脚亚目恐龙中，但它们的微观结构知之甚少。在这里，我们报告说黑素体（带颜色的细胞器）不仅存在于早期鸟类的羽片羽毛中，而且以相同的方式存在于非鸟类恐龙的表皮丝状结构中，从而驳斥了最近关于丝状结构是部分腐烂的真皮胶原纤维的说法。真黑素体和褐黑素体的例子都已被识别，它们通常在部分降解的羽毛和丝状结构的生命位置中被保存下来。此外，这里的数据为重建这些灭绝的鸟类和兽脚亚目恐龙的颜色和颜色图案提供了经验证据：例如，兽脚亚目恐龙中华龙鸟尾部的深色条纹可以合理地推断为具有栗色到红棕色色调。
