Dinosaur feathers

[theropod]

not strictly "information", rather hypothesis, but this post contains a nice restoration of a feathered Apatosaurus plus explanation why it's plausible:
svpow.com/2013/09/11/beards-of-the-mesozoic-bob-nicholls-edition/

[theropod]

Recent discoveries in Middle Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous deposits from
northeastern China have revealed that numerous theropod dinosaurs were covered by
feathers. Furthermore, filamentous integumentary structures were also recently described
in rare Early Cretaceous ornithischian dinosaurs from Liaoning Province in China.
Whether these filaments can be regarded as epidermal and therefore part of the
evolutionary lineage towards feathers remains controversial. Here we describe a new
basal neornithischian dinosaur, based on isolated bones and partial skeletons collected in
two monospecific bonebeds from the Middle Late Jurassic Kulinda locality in the
Transbaikal region (Russia). Varied integumentary structures were found directly
associated with skeletal elements, supporting the hypothesis that simple filamentous
feathers, as well as compound feather-like structures comparable to those in theropods,
were widespread amongst the whole dinosaur clade. Moreover, scales along the distal
tibia and on the foot closely resemble the secondarilyappearing pedal scales in extant
birds.

vertpaleo.org/PDFS/88/887c249a-e0b1-46ee-8393-221f0574c8a3.pdf

More and more dinosaur clades are being found to have feathers. It seems to be merely a matter of time until we know filaments in every major clade.

[theropod]

www.walkingwithdinosaurs.com/news/editorial/diplodocus-sauropods-with-feathers/1/
by Mike Taylor:

[...]Sauropods' nearest relatives are the theropods, which we know had feathers. But that's not enough to let us to draw conclusions about sauropods, as feathers might have evolved within the theropod group. We need to look at the next closest relatives as well – and that is the third great group of dinosaurs, the ornithischians, which include Triceratops and Edmontosaurus.

Only a few years ago, scientists thought that the ornithischians had naked skin, but that changed in 2009 when a tiny fuzzy ornithischian called Tianyulong was announced. Here's why this is important for sauropods: if theropods and ornithischians both had protofeathers, then it's most likely that they inherited them from their common ancestor.

And since that animal was also the ancestor of sauropods, it's likely that they inherited protofeathers from that ancestor. The two feathered groups, theropods and ornithischians, bracket sauropods on the family tree – they form a ‘phylogenetic bracket’.

If this seems like special pleading, it's not: it's the same reasoning we use to deduce that dinosaurs had eyeballs. Eyes don't fossilise, so we don't have direct evidence; but birds and crocs, dinosaurs' nearest living relatives, both have eyeballs. So they probably got them from their common ancestor, and the other descendants of that ancestor probably retained them, too.

Of course it's not always that simple. Our ancestors had hair over all of their bodies, but we've lost most of it. In the same way, even if sauropods did inherit protofeathers from their ancestors, they might have lost them, just as large modern mammals like elephants, rhinos and hippos have discarded most of their hair.[...]

dml.cmnh.org/1998Oct/msg00315.html
by Darren Naish

I'm looking forward to
Bakker's description of a feather-bearing sauropod - it's in the
works I'm sure:)

Not totally sure whether he was being serious, but that's absolutely possible for all we know-work often takes extremely long to get published.

[theropod]

oops, this clears it up I think: dml.cmnh.org/2002Feb/msg00616.html

[theropod]

The small feathered ornitischian in last year’s SVP Abstracts is now described as Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus: www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6195/451
This was written by David Hone: www.theguardian.com/science/lost-worlds/2014/jul/24/kulindadromeus-feathers-dinosaur-birds-evolution-siberia-russia


There are already tons of newspaper articles about it, this was posted by Scott Hartman on his newsgroup:
www.theverge.com/2014/7/24/5933949/a-new-fossil-suggests-dinosaurs-may-have-had-feathers

Funny how this article makes such a huge deal about it, the author makes it seem as if no herbivorous dinosaur or ornitischian with feathers had been found before (while we actually have at least two other feathered ornitischians and, considering ornithomimids and therizinosaurs, dozens of herbivores). So called "science journalism" really doesn’t take a lot of expertise nowadays…

It’s definitely a fascinating discovery in many ways¹. I can’t wait to see the paper!

¹That is:
• Evidence for co-ocurrence of various evolutionary grades of feathers and "scales" on one and the same animal.
• Further evidence of filaments in general in a non-coelurosaurian, non theropod dinosaur.
• Evidence for complex filaments in an ornitischian.
• First case of filaments involving a basal neoornitischian.

[theropod]

It will probably turn up here sooner or later: palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/benton/reprints/

The supplement→ seems pretty comprehensive too however, I wouldn’t be surprised if it actually contained more information than the actual paper.

[theropod]

Here are some pictures: archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2014/07/24/kulindadromeus-images/

[creature386]

I really missed something during my absence.

BTW, looks like the paper supports the theory expressed by theropod (and me) on carnivora before. Here is what Wikipedia cited from the paper:

Godefroit et al. concluded that the filaments earlier reported in Ornithischia, with Psittacosaurus and Tianyulong, could be homologous to the "protofeathers" found in non-avian theropods. With known feather-like structures in pterosaurs, there is evidence for it being basal to Ornithodira. Furthermore, evidence from dormant feather genes in alligators shows the trait may be basal to Archosauria, and possible to have appeared as far back as basal archosauromorphs, as some distinctive archosaurian integument features have appeared this far back. Evidence currently however only likely points to basal Ornithodira or Archosauria.[1]

Sciurumimus was just the beginning…

[blaze]

Godefroit et al. doesn't mention the alligator genes, I tried to dig deeper and all I could find was a brand new BANDit trying to prove birds are pseudosuchians.

[creature386]

You are right, I forgot to download the paper first and check for myself before just citing wikipedia. The archosaur feather idea was in there, but the alligator genes were added by the wiki user. Either a miscitation or some extra information with no source.

[Godzillasaurus]

Having the gene for filamentous structures of course is hereditary and not necessarily visible. Obviously, if modern crocodilians have this "gene", then it is obviously 100% recessive.

[creature386]

They maybe don't even have it, since it appears to be a misquotation. But you are right in case they have it.

[creature386]

Forget what I said. It is a misquotation, but not made up:

Immunological techniques show that the same antibodies that react with the epidermal ß keratins of the chicken (Gallus domesticus) react with the epidermal ß keratins of American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis). Furthermore, a pep- tide sequence (20 amino acids) from an alligator claw ß keratin is similar to a highly conserved region of avian claw, scale, feather, and feather-like ß keratins. These observations suggest that the ß keratin genes of avian epidermal appendages have homologues in the American alligator. Understanding the origin and evolution of the ß keratin gene families in reptiles and birds will undoubtedly add to our understanding of the evolution of skin appendages such as scales and feathers.

icb.oxfordjournals.org/content/40/4/530.full.pdf
I added this to Wikipedia, so that the statement has a source.

[theropod]

Technical Session III (Wednesday, November 5, 2014, 2:15 PM)
NEW DETAILS ON THE INTEGUMENTAL STRUCTURES IN THE JUVENILE
MEGALOSAUROID SCIURUMIMUS ALBERSDOERFERI FROM THE LATE
JURASSIC OF GERMANY USING DIFFERENT AUTO-FLUORESCENCE
IMAGING TECHNIQUE
FOTH, Christian, Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie, Munich,
Germany; HAUG, Carolin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany; HAUG,
Joachim, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany; TISCHLINGER, Helmut,
Jura-Museum, Eichstätt, Germany; RAUHUT, Oliver, Bayerische Staatssammlung fur
Palaontologie und Geologie, Munchen, Germany
Our knowledge of the morphology and evolution of integumental structures in
dinosaurs is still limited due to the infrequent preservation of soft tissues in vertebrate
fossils in general. The juvenile megalosauroid Sciurumimus albersdoerferi from the
Upper Jurassic Painten Formation in Germany provides new insights into the evolution of
the integument in non-avian dinosaurs, due to exceptional soft tissue preservation,
including feathers and skin. These structures were investigated using UVA (with different
color correction filters) and cyan-red auto-fluorescence techniques and digital photo
documentation. By using different wavelengths on the same object it is possible to
enhance distinct structures, helping to verify morphological interpretations. In overview,
Sciurumimus shows feathers on the dorsal side of the tail and the back, but also in the
belly region and on the ventral side of the tail. Skin remains are preserved on the dorsal
and ventral side of the tail, in the pectoral region and on the forelimbs, on the trunk and
the hind limbs. Under UV light feathers illuminate yellow and cyan, whereas skin
remains appear bright yellow. In contrast, using cyan-red fluorescence both integumental
structures appear red, with the skin giving a much stronger signal. The feathers are gently
curved filaments, which show no sign of distal branching. Proximally, some filaments
seem to fuse to each other, but this might be a taphonomic artefact due to the dense
overlap of feathers. Other feathers appear mono-filamentous over their entire length,
resembling the filaments of Psittacosaurus, Tianyulong, Dilong or Sinosauropteryx. The
skin remains found in Sciurumimus seem to be rather smooth and show no signs of
scales. Along the dorsal side of the tail the skin is decayed, revealing a horizontal
meshwork of thick, short, wrinkly filaments overlain by an outer skin layer. Due to their
different morphology and different luminescence, we interpret these filaments as remains
of collagen fibers from the dermis, covered by epidermis, rather than as feathers. In one
area, the outer skin layer is associated with feathers, showing that the filaments may be
anchored in the skin as it is described for Psittacosaurus. In sum, Sciurumimus shows the
phylogenetically oldest record for feathers within theropods, closing the gap towards
basal ornithischian dinosaurs and pterosaurs possessing filamentous integuments.
Feathers in this taxon are furthermore very similar to those found in these clades,
supporting the homology of these structures.

From the 2014 SVP abstract book: vertpaleo.org/PDFS/9c/9ce46057-c8cc-45f2-95ae-767eb679dafd.pdf

[Deleted]

Sept 20, 2014 18:20:34 GMT 5 theropod said:

Technical Session III (Wednesday, November 5, 2014, 2:15 PM)
NEW DETAILS ON THE INTEGUMENTAL STRUCTURES IN THE JUVENILE
MEGALOSAUROID SCIURUMIMUS ALBERSDOERFERI FROM THE LATE
JURASSIC OF GERMANY USING DIFFERENT AUTO-FLUORESCENCE
IMAGING TECHNIQUE
FOTH, Christian, Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie, Munich,
Germany; HAUG, Carolin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany; HAUG,
Joachim, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany; TISCHLINGER, Helmut,
Jura-Museum, Eichstätt, Germany; RAUHUT, Oliver, Bayerische Staatssammlung fur
Palaontologie und Geologie, Munchen, Germany
Our knowledge of the morphology and evolution of integumental structures in
dinosaurs is still limited due to the infrequent preservation of soft tissues in vertebrate
fossils in general. The juvenile megalosauroid Sciurumimus albersdoerferi from the
Upper Jurassic Painten Formation in Germany provides new insights into the evolution of
the integument in non-avian dinosaurs, due to exceptional soft tissue preservation,
including feathers and skin. These structures were investigated using UVA (with different
color correction filters) and cyan-red auto-fluorescence techniques and digital photo
documentation. By using different wavelengths on the same object it is possible to
enhance distinct structures, helping to verify morphological interpretations. In overview,
Sciurumimus shows feathers on the dorsal side of the tail and the back, but also in the
belly region and on the ventral side of the tail. Skin remains are preserved on the dorsal
and ventral side of the tail, in the pectoral region and on the forelimbs, on the trunk and
the hind limbs. Under UV light feathers illuminate yellow and cyan, whereas skin
remains appear bright yellow. In contrast, using cyan-red fluorescence both integumental
structures appear red, with the skin giving a much stronger signal. The feathers are gently
curved filaments, which show no sign of distal branching. Proximally, some filaments
seem to fuse to each other, but this might be a taphonomic artefact due to the dense
overlap of feathers. Other feathers appear mono-filamentous over their entire length,
resembling the filaments of Psittacosaurus, Tianyulong, Dilong or Sinosauropteryx. The
skin remains found in Sciurumimus seem to be rather smooth and show no signs of
scales. Along the dorsal side of the tail the skin is decayed, revealing a horizontal
meshwork of thick, short, wrinkly filaments overlain by an outer skin layer. Due to their
different morphology and different luminescence, we interpret these filaments as remains
of collagen fibers from the dermis, covered by epidermis, rather than as feathers. In one
area, the outer skin layer is associated with feathers, showing that the filaments may be
anchored in the skin as it is described for Psittacosaurus. In sum, Sciurumimus shows the
phylogenetically oldest record for feathers within theropods, closing the gap towards
basal ornithischian dinosaurs and pterosaurs possessing filamentous integuments.
Feathers in this taxon are furthermore very similar to those found in these clades,
supporting the homology of these structures.

From the 2014 SVP abstract book: vertpaleo.org/PDFS/9c/9ce46057-c8cc-45f2-95ae-767eb679dafd.pdf

I'm not seeing any part of that abstract dealing with Sciurumimus' phylogenetic position, nor does the title imply that it's dealing with that subject.

Cau's suggestion implying Sciurumimus as a coelurosaur doesn't appear to be refuted, and would probably change the result by a considerable amount if true.