Image: Sinosauropteryx plumage fossils

Description: Plumage Features Preserved in Sinosauropteryx From the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Biota of Liaoning Province, China, (related to Plumage Distribution and Figure 1). (A) IVPP V12415: a whole specimen showing exceptional preservation of tail plumage but little preserved plumage over the body or skull in comparison to either NIGP 127586 or NIGP 127587. (B) The proximal tail region of NIGP 127586 showing the transition into the distinct banding pattern from an unpigmented ventral region and pigmented dorsal region indicative of a countershading pattern (see also Figure 1). (C) Detail of pigmented feathers above the hip girdle and overlying the ilium of NIGP 127586 (see also Figure 1). (D) A single band of pigmented plumage on the tail of IVPP V12415 showing the exceptional feather preservation absent from much of the rest of the specimen. Scale bars represent 50 mm in (A), 10 mm in (B) and (D) and 5 mm in (C)
Title: Sinosauropteryx plumage fossils
Credit: http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(17)31197-1
Author: Fiann M. Smithwick, Robert Nicholls, Innes C. Cuthill, Jakob Vinther
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