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The colour of fossil feathers
Open accessAbstract
Feathers are complex integumentary appendages of birds and some other theropod dinosaurs. They are frequently coloured and function in camouflage and display. Previous investigations have concluded that fossil feathers are preserved as carbonized traces composed of feather-degrading bacteria. Here, an investigation of a colour-banded feather from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil revealed that the dark bands are preserved as elongate, oblate carbonaceous bodies 1-2 microm long, whereas the light bands retain only relief traces on the rock matrix. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis showed that the dark bands preserve a substantial amount of carbon, whereas the light bands show no carbon residue. Comparison of these oblate fossil bodies with the structure of black feathers from a living bird indicates that they are the eumelanin-containing melanosomes. We conclude that most fossil feathers are preserved as melanosomes, and that the distribution of these structures in fossil feathers can preserve the colour pattern in the original feather. The discovery of preserved melanosomes opens up the possibility of interpreting the colour of extinct birds and other dinosaurs.
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“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 [15]
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“indicating low density and most likely an organic composition, corroborated by their dark coloration, perhaps due to melanin or another recalcitrant pigment [47–49”
From Cambrian Sessile, Suspension Feeding Stem-Group Ctenophores and Evolution of the Comb Jelly Body Plan (2019) · cites this paper as [49]
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“Other melanosome imprints are aligned along the longitudinal axis of a proximal barbule (Fig. 3c,d), an arrangement previously reported in the barbules of extant and more recent fossil bird feathers 14,15 .”
From New evidence on the colour and nature of the isolated Archaeopteryx feather (2012) · cites this paper as [15]
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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 [15]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Vinther, J., Briggs, D. E. G., Prum, R. O., & Saranathan, V.
- Affiliations
- Yale University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Briggs, Derek E.G
- Venue
- Biology Letters
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2008-07-08
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 522-525
- ISSN
- 1744-9561 (ISSN-L)
- 1744-957X
- PMC
- PMC2610093
- OpenAlex
- W2056510498
- Cited by
- 204
- References
- 17
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 14
- FWCI
- 7.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Biology Letters (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Bristol Research (University of Bristol) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Fossil Insects in Amber
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › melanin and skin pigmentation
- Keywords
- fossil feathers, feather colour, melanosomes, eumelanin, Crato Formation, Lower Cretaceous, theropod dinosaurs, feather-degrading bacteria, extinct birds
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Birds, Color, Feathers, Fossils, Melanins, Melanosomes, Dinosaurs
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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
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