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Fossilized melanosomes and the colour of Cretaceous dinosaurs and birds
Abstract
Spectacular fossils from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Group of northeastern China have greatly expanded our knowledge of the diversity and palaeobiology of dinosaurs and early birds, and contributed to our understanding of the origin of birds, of flight, and of feathers. Pennaceous (vaned) feathers and integumentary filaments are preserved in birds and non-avian theropod dinosaurs, but little is known of their microstructure. Here we report that melanosomes (colour-bearing organelles) are not only preserved in the pennaceous feathers of early birds, but also in an identical manner in integumentary filaments of non-avian dinosaurs, thus refuting recent claims that the filaments are partially decayed dermal collagen fibres. Examples of both eumelanosomes and phaeomelanosomes have been identified, and they are often preserved in life position within the structure of partially degraded feathers and filaments. Furthermore, the data here provide empirical evidence for reconstructing the colours and colour patterning of these extinct birds and theropod dinosaurs: for example, the dark-coloured stripes on the tail of the theropod dinosaur Sinosauropteryx can reasonably be inferred to have exhibited chestnut to reddish-brown tones.
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“Similar fossilized feather traces have been found to preserve colour-imparting organelles called melanosomes 12-16 , which consist of melanins, the most widespread and abundant pigments in animals and found in the feathers of all birds (excluding albinos) 4 .”
From New evidence on the colour and nature of the isolated Archaeopteryx feather (2012) · cites this paper as [16]
In the citing paper
“the morphological properties of the associated melanosomes have been used to reconstruct various plumage colours of extinct dinosaurs 12-16 .”
From New evidence on the colour and nature of the isolated Archaeopteryx feather (2012) · cites this paper as [16]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Zhang, F., Kearns, S. L., Orr, P. J., Benton, M. J., Zhou, Z., Johnson, D., Xu, X., & Wang, X.
- Affiliations
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- University of Bristol (GB)
- University College Dublin (IE)
- The Open University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Benton, Michael J.
- Zhou, Zhonghe
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2010-01-27
- Volume
- 463
- Issue
- 7284
- Pages
- 1075-1078
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W1966587486
- Cited by
- 303
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 28 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 21
- FWCI
- 15.57
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Open Research Online (The Open University) (acceptedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Bristol Research (University of Bristol) (submittedVersion)
- Explore Bristol Research (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Natural Environment Research Council (NE/E011055/1)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › melanin and skin pigmentation
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Fossil Insects in Amber
- Keywords
- feathered dinosaurs, early birds, Jehol Group, Cretaceous, feather microstructure, collagen fibers, theropod dinosaurs
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Birds, China, Color, Feathers, Fossils, Phylogeny, Pigmentation, Melanosomes, Dinosaurs, Integumentary System, Extinction, Biological
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