Until this species was discovered, feathers had been identified in just one branch of the dinosaur family tree: the...
Originally shared by American Museum of Natural History
Until this species was discovered, feathers had been identified in just one branch of the dinosaur family tree: the theropods, which includes T. rex as well as birds. Tianyulong confuciusi is an ornithischian, the branch that includes Stegosaurus and Triceratops. This discovery suggests proto-feathers were present in the ancestor of all dinosaurs and probably pterosaurs as well. Learn more about ancient feathered creatures in Dinosaurs Among Us, now open! Learn more: http://bit.ly/29P41Tb
© AMNH/R. Mickens
Waiting for the proto-feathered sauropod evidence to come along.
ReplyDeleteYeah, this seems to imply that a species like Eoraptor would have had protofeathers?
ReplyDeleteGregory S. Paul was putting protofeathers on Lagosuchus and other early dinosauriforms back in the 80s.
ReplyDeleteI doubt that full-grown sauropods would need them for much other than possibly decoration.
If proto-feathers are basal, I wonder how long some of these lines kept them? Theropods are especially weird. If T-rex had them at the end of the cretaceous, what about large Jurassic theropods? Was allosaurus feathery? Dilophosaurus? Or did only small Jurassic theropods keep them, later becoming feathery giants existing close to the same time scaly giants like giganatosaurus?
ReplyDeleteI figure that practically every clade had them at some point in their life, though presumably there would be some that were featherless or nearly so as adults. Thyreophorans and sauropods seem like they'd probably lack them for the most part.
ReplyDeleteMy main takeaway here is that art-wise, almost anything goes.
ReplyDeletehttp://markwitton-com.blogspot.com/2015/02/controversial-ceratopsids-revisited.html
Casey G. Hell, even ankylosaurs might have had them on the underside.
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