Some researchers have questioned whether pterosaurs had true feathers. A new fossil may “turn all that on its head.”
That could mean that feathers — and vibrant displays of mate-seeking plumage — may have originated as far back as the common ancestor of dinosaurs and pterosaurs, during the early Triassic Period around 250 million years ago., paleontologist Aude Cincotta of University College Cork in Ireland and colleagues report April 20 in, had whiskerlike, single filaments and more complicated branching structures akin to those of modern bird feathers.
Because the fossil’s soft tissues were also well-preserved, the team identified a variety of different shapes of pigment-bearing melanosomes in both feathers and skin. Those shapes ranged from “very elongate cigar shapes to flattened platelike disks,” says Maria McNamara, a paleobiologist also at University College Cork.
Different melanosome shapes have been linked to different colors. Short, stubby spheroidal melanosomes are usually associated with yellow to reddish-brown colors, while the longer shapes are linked to darker colors, McNamara says.specimen suggests that the creature may have been quite colorful, the team says. And that riot of color, in turn, hints that the feathers weren’t there just to keep the creatures warm, but may have been used for visual signaling, such as displays to attract a mate.
Scanning electron micrographs of the soft tissues of a pterosaur’s fossilized skull reveal that different types of feathers contained different shapes of pigment-bearing melanosomes. Melanosome shapes are thought to be linked to color. In the top row, whiskerlike simple filaments contained elongated melanosomes, suggesting darker colors. In the bottom row, more complex branched feathers contained ovoid melanosomes, pointing to brighter yellows or reds. Scale bars all represent 2 micrometers.
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