Ornamental feathers in Cretaceous Burmese amber: resolving the enigma of rachis-dominated feather structure
Lida Xing1, Pierre Cockx3,4, Ryan C. McKellar3,4,5, Jingmai O’Connor6
1 State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China; 2 School of the Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China; 3 Royal Saskatchewan Museum, Regina, Saskatchewan S4P 4W7, Canada; 4 Biology Department, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan S4S 0A7, Canada; 5 Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA; 6 Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China
Abstract Over the last 20 years, compression fossils of feathers surrounding dinosaurs have greatly expanded our understanding of the origin and evolution of feathers. One of the most peculiar feather morphotypes discovered to date are rachis dominated feathers (RDFs), which have also been referred to as proximally ribbon-like pennaceous feathers (PRPFs). These elongate feathers are only found in the tail plumage, typically occurring in pairs with both streamer (not proximally ribbon-like) and racket-plume morphologies recognized. Here we describe a large sample set of isolated and paired RDFs from the Upper Cretaceous Burmese amber (~99 Ma). Amber preserves the finest details of these fragile structures in three dimensions, demonstrating that RDFs form a distinct feather morphotype with a ventrally open rachis, and with significant variability in flexibility, pigmentation, microstructure, and symmetry.
Fund:We thank National Natural Science Foundation of China (41772008),Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2652017215),National Geographic Society, U.S.A. (EC0768-15), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Canada (2015-00681), RSM and Paul Riegert scholarships (to P.C.) for support.
Corresponding Authors:*ryan.mckellar@gov.sk.ca;��Lida Xing and Pierre Cockx contributed equally to this work.
Cite this article:
. Ornamental feathers in Cretaceous Burmese amber: resolving the enigma of rachis-dominated feather structure[J]. , 2019, 8(1): 1-18.
. Ornamental feathers in Cretaceous Burmese amber: resolving the enigma of rachis-dominated feather structure[J]. Journal of Palaeogeography, 2019, 8(1): 1-18.
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