Evolution of dinosaur epidermal structures

Title
Evolution of dinosaur epidermal structures
Publication Date
2015-06-30
Author(s)
Barrett, Paul M
Evans, David C
Campione, Nicolas E
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4205-9794
Email: ncampion@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:ncampion
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
The Royal Society Publishing
Place of publication
United Kingdom
DOI
10.1098/rsbl.2015.0229
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/27546
Abstract
Spectacularly preserved non-avian dinosaurs with integumentary filaments/ feathers have revolutionized dinosaur studies and fostered the suggestion that the dinosaur common ancestor possessed complex integumentary structures homologous to feathers. This hypothesis has major implications for interpreting dinosaur biology, but has not been tested rigorously. Using a comprehensive database of dinosaur skin traces, we apply maximum-likelihood methods to reconstruct the phylogenetic distribution of epidermal structures and interpret their evolutionary history. Most of these analyses find no compelling evidence for the appearance of protofeathers in the dinosaur common ancestor and scales are usually recovered as the plesiomorphic state, but results are sensitive to the outgroup condition in pterosaurs. Rare occurrences of ornithischian filamentous integument might represent independent acquisitions of novel epidermal structures that are not homologous with theropod feathers.
Link
Citation
Biology Letters, 11(6), p. 1-4
ISSN
1744-957X
1744-9561
Pubmed ID
26041865
Start page
1
End page
4

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