Sinosauropteryx was the first of the “feathered dinosaurs” to wow the world. The true nature of these “feathers” has been debated since the ‘90s. The latest iteration of this discussion involves the tiny structures that impart color to bird feathers.
I would only add to this discussion the thought that the most equivocal evidence presented by Zhang, et al, concerns the only clear dinosaur, Sinosauropteryx. Sinornithosaurus, on the other hand, looks an awful lot like Microraptor – a four-winged bird, damn it.
I’m still not convinced that there is such a thing as a feathered dinosaur.
Theagarten Lingham-Soliar, Alan Feduccia and Xiaolin Wang
Proceedings of the Royal Society B (2007) 274, 1823-1829
Zhang F, Kearns SL, Orr PJ, Benton MJ, Zhou Z, Johnson D, Xu X, Wang X
Nature (2010) 463:1075-1078
Theagarten Lingham-Soliar
J Ornithol (2010)
The next round, I suspect, will deal with trace metals found in feather pigments:
R.A. Wogelius, P.L. Manning, H.E. Barden, N.P. Edwards, S.M. Webb, W.I. Sellers, K.G. Taylor, P.L. Larson, P. Dodson, H. You, L. Da-quing, U Bergmann
Sciencexpress, (30 June 2011)
