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Showing 1–10 of 10 results
Advanced filters: Author: Liliana D’Alba Clear advanced filters

  • Archaeopteryxcombined features of reptiles and birds, but the colour of its feathers has remained unclear. In this study, based on data from fossilized colour-imparting melanosomes, an isolated feather specimen fromArchaeopteryxis predicted to be black, providing clues to its plumage colour and function.

    • Ryan M. Carney
    • Jakob Vinther
    • Jörg Ackermann
    Research
    Nature Communications
    Volume: 3, P: 1-6

  • The ecological roles of color are well-studied but environmental factors associated with color variation less so. Here, the authors examine coloration in 1249 squamates, finding that brightness evolution is associated with open habitat and temperature.

    • Jonathan Goldenberg
    • Karen Bisschop
    • Matthew D. Shawkey
    ResearchOpen Access
    Nature Communications
    Volume: 16, P: 1-12

  • Sampling of extant and fossil amniotes reveals that the diversity of melanosome morphologies increased sharply around the time of the origin of pinnate feathers in maniraptoran dinosaurs (the lineage leading to birds) and independently in mammals; lizard, turtle and crocodilian skin as well as archosaur filamentous body covering shows a limited diversity of melanosome forms, a pattern consistent with convergent changes in the melanocortin system of endothermic animals.

    • Quanguo Li
    • Julia A. Clarke
    • Matthew D. Shawkey
    Research
    Nature
    Volume: 507, P: 350-353

  • Imaging of pterosaur skin reveals evidence of coloured feather-like structures, but whether these are homologous with true feathers is open to debate.

    • Liliana D’Alba
    News & Views
    Nature Ecology & Evolution
    Volume: 3, P: 12-13

  • Melanosomes preserved in the skin and feathers of a tapejarid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous found in Brazil provide evidence of the early use of feathers for visual communication.

    • Aude Cincotta
    • Michaël Nicolaï
    • Pascal Godefroit
    ResearchOpen Access
    Nature
    Volume: 604, P: 684-688

  • In contrast to bird plumage, little is known about the evolution of bird skin color. Here, Nicolaï et al. find that black skin has evolved over 100 times in birds and is associated with baldness and/or white feathers as well as with high irradiation habitats, suggesting a role in UV protection.

    • Michaël P. J. Nicolaï
    • Matthew D. Shawkey
    • Liliana D’Alba
    ResearchOpen Access
    Nature Communications
    Volume: 11, P: 1-8

  • A number of paravian dinosaurs have been described from the Jurassic Yanliao biota, but these have tended to be morphologically similar to Archaeopteryx. Here, Hu. describe the new paravian dinosaur, Caihong juji gen. et sp. nov., which possesses a suite of unusual skeletal and feather characteristics.

    • Dongyu Hu
    • Julia A. Clarke
    • Xing Xu
    ResearchOpen Access
    Nature Communications
    Volume: 9, P: 1-12

  • Jonathan Goldenberg et al. use photographic data and ancestral state reconstruction of 126 viper species to show that substrate type influences the evolution of ventral brightness for efficient heat transfer. Their results suggest that these patterns may have been involved in the diversification of vipers during the Miocene, and highlight the importance of ventral body regions when considering behavioral ecology and evolution.

    • Jonathan Goldenberg
    • Liliana D’Alba
    • Matthew D. Shawkey
    ResearchOpen Access
    Communications Biology
    Volume: 4, P: 1-10