Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/1942/37293
Title: | Pterosaur melanosomes support signalling functions for early feathers | Authors: | Cincotta, Aude Nicolai, Michael Nascimento Campos, Hebert Bruno McNamara, Maria D'Alba, Liliana Shawkey, Matthew D. Kischlat, Edio-Ernst Yans, Johan CARLEER, Robert Escuillie, Francois Godefroit, Pascal |
Issue Date: | 2022 | Publisher: | NATURE PORTFOLIO | Source: | NATURE, 604 (7907) , p. 684 -688 | Status: | Early view | Abstract: | Remarkably well-preserved soft tissues in Mesozoic fossils have yielded substantial insights into the evolution of feathers(1). New evidence of branched feathers in pterosaurs suggests that feathers originated in the avemetatarsalian ancestor of pterosaurs and dinosaurs in the Early Triassic(2), but the homology of these pterosaur structures with feathers is controversial(3,4). Reports of pterosaur feathers with homogeneous ovoid melanosome geometries(2,5) suggest that they exhibited limited variation in colour, supporting hypotheses that early feathers functioned primarily in thermoregulation(6). Here we report the presence of diverse melanosome geometries in the skin and simple and branched feathers of a tapejarid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous found in Brazil. The melanosomes form distinct populations in different feather types and the skin, a feature previously known only in theropod dinosaurs, including birds. These tissue-specific melanosome geometries in pterosaurs indicate that manipulation of feather colour-and thus functions of feathers in visual communication-has deep evolutionary origins. These features show that genetic regulation of melanosome chemistry and shape(7-9) was active early in feather evolution. | Notes: | Cincotta, A (corresponding author), Royal Belgian Inst Nat Sci, Directorate Earth & Hist Life, Brussels, Belgium.; Cincotta, A (corresponding author), Univ Namur, Inst Life Earth & Environm, Namur, Belgium.; Cincotta, A; McNamara, M (corresponding author), Univ Coll Cork, Sch Biol Earth & Environm Sci, Cork, Ireland.; Cincotta, A; McNamara, M (corresponding author), Univ Coll Cork, Environm Res Inst, Cork, Ireland. acincotta@naturalsciences.be; maria.mcnamara@ucc.ie |
Document URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/1942/37293 | ISSN: | 0028-0836 | e-ISSN: | 1476-4687 | DOI: | 10.1038/s41586-022-04622-3 | ISI #: | WOS:000784934100004 | Category: | A1 | Type: | Journal Contribution | Validations: | ecoom 2023 |
Appears in Collections: | Research publications |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
---|---|---|---|---|
s41586-022-04622-3.pdf | Published version | 19.56 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
WEB OF SCIENCETM
Citations
16
checked on Oct 6, 2024
Page view(s)
42
checked on Aug 9, 2022
Download(s)
12
checked on Aug 9, 2022
Google ScholarTM
Check
Altmetric
Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.