Thursday, July 3, 2014

The newest Archie


A new fossil of Archaeopteryx has been described.  A picture of it (with a key) is shown below.

Here's a National Geographic article explaining more (and it also has a reconstruction):

Dinosaur-era fossil shows birds' feathers evolved before flight

About 150 million years old, the new fossil disclosed Wednesday in the journal Nature reveals the iconic birdlike dinosaur sported long feathers from head to foot. Earlier fossils showed such feathers on only its wings and tail.

These so-called pennaceous feathers are the long-shafted ones birds use to fly today, distinct from the downy ones that act as insulation. The new Archaeopteryx fossil, says the study's senior author, Oliver Rauhut of Germany's Bavarian State Collections of Palaeontology and Geology in Munich, gives scientists a glimpse into the evolution of flight.





















Abbreviations: bp, body plumage; ft, feather ‘trousers’; hf, hackle feathers; lh, left hindlimb; n, neck; rf, right forelimb; rh, right hindlimb; rw, right wing; s, skull remains; t, tail; tf, tail feathers. Scale bar, 5 cm.

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