State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, 100083, China.
School of the Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, 100083, China.
Sci Rep. 2019 Jan 30;9(1):927. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-37427-4.
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.
在过去的三年中，缅甸琥珀（~99Ma，来自缅甸）提供了一系列保存程度不同的不同发育阶段的未成熟手盗龙类骨骼遗骸。这些标本基于白垩纪沉积岩中的压缩化石，增加了三维结构和软组织的细节，这些细节很少在其他地方保存下来。在这里，我们描述了一只保存得非常完好的足部，以及部分翼羽。这些身体部位可能是由于较大的动物的捕食或食腐行为而被肢解，进入树脂中。新标本保存了跖骨上的轮廓羽，以及足部的神秘的小板片状羽毛（SSF）羽，与现代鸟类观察到的羽毛图案以及通过发育操作研究培养的羽毛图案直接相似。最终，这种联系可能使研究人员能够观察丝状恐龙“原羽”的发育过程——利用现代鸟类中的进化残留物来检验理论。
