The early evolution of feathers: fossil evidence from Cretaceous amber of France |
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Authors: | Perrichot Vincent Marion Loïc Néraudeau Didier Vullo Romain Tafforeau Paul |
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Institution: | 1.Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstrasse 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany;2.Ecobio, UMR CNRS 6553, Université Rennes 1, 263 Avenue du Général Leclerc, 35042 Rennes, France;3.Géosciences, UMR CNRS 6118, Université Rennes 1, 263 Avenue du Général Leclerc, 35042 Rennes, France;4.European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, BP 220, 6 rue Jules Horowitz, 38043 Grenoble, France |
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Abstract: | The developmental stages of feathers are of major importance in the evolution of body covering and the origin of avian flight. Until now, there were significant gaps in knowledge of early morphologies in theoretical stages of feathers as well as in palaeontological material. Here we report fossil evidence of an intermediate and critical stage in the incremental evolution of feathers which has been predicted by developmental theories but hitherto undocumented by evidence from both the recent and the fossil records. Seven feathers have been found in an Early Cretaceous (Late Albian, ca 100 Myr) amber of western France, which display a flattened shaft composed by the still distinct and incompletely fused bases of the barbs forming two irregular vanes. Considering their remarkably primitive features, and since recent discoveries have yielded feathers of modern type in some derived theropod dinosaurs, the Albian feathers from France might have been derived either from an early bird or from a non-avian dinosaur. |
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Keywords: | feather evolution early stages Cretaceous amber synchrotron holotomography |
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