The origin and early evolution of feathers: implications, uncertainties and future prospects

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2024.0517

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	The origin and early evolution of feathers: implications, uncertainties and future prospects
	Xu, Xing1,2 ; Barrett, Paul M.3
	2025-02-19
发表期刊	BIOLOGY LETTERS
ISSN	1744-9561
卷号	21 期号:2 页码:9
摘要	As a defining feature of the clade, feathers are key to understanding bird biology. Discoveries of spectacular dinosaur and pterosaur fossils preserving feathers and feather-like integumentary appendages demonstrate trends of increasing complexity in gross morphology and microstructure through avemetatarsalian evolution, and the acquisition of complex flight feathers before the origin of birds. Moreover, this material shows some early feathers differed from modern feathers morphologically, ultrastructurally, biochemically and developmentally, revealing integumentary evolutionary pathways absent in modern taxa. These advances have changed conventional understanding of dinosaurs and impacted conceptions of both birds and feathers. However, it remains unknown if 'true' feathers originated at the base of Avemetatarsalia or within Theropoda. The former scenario implies multiple feather losses, the evolutionary and developmental mechanisms of which require investigation; the latter suggests pterosaurs and ornithischians independently evolved filamentous integumentary appendages, which might have shared genetic regulatory networks with theropod feathers. Answering these questions requires additional data on avemetatarsalian integument, particularly for sauropodomorphs, early diverging theropods and dinosaur outgroups, and more information on those taxa with known integumentary features. An integrative approach combining morphological, developmental, biochemical and taphonomic data, including extinct and extant taxa, is essential for a clearer understanding of feather origin and evolution.
关键词	feathers integument fossils developmental biology evolution
DOI	10.1098/rsbl.2024.0517
关键词[WOS]	LATE CRETACEOUS DINOSAUR ; BETA BETA KERATINS ; INTEGUMENTARY STRUCTURES ; FILAMENTOUS INTEGUMENT ; THEROPOD DINOSAUR ; YIXIAN FORMATION ; COLOR PATTERNS ; EVO-DEVO ; TAIL ; APPENDAGES
收录类别	SCI
语种	英语
资助项目	Yunnan Revitalization Talent Support Program
项目资助者	Yunnan Revitalization Talent Support Program
WOS研究方向	Life Sciences & Biomedicine - Other Topics ; Environmental Sciences & Ecology ; Evolutionary Biology
WOS类目	Biology ; Ecology ; Evolutionary Biology
WOS记录号	WOS:001424822100001
出版者	ROYAL SOC
引用统计
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.205/handle/311034/24358
专题	中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所
作者单位	1.Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Vertebrate Paleontol & Paleoanthropol, Beijing 100044, Peoples R China 2.Yunnan Univ, Ctr Vertebrate Evolutionary Biol, Kunming 650504, Yunnan, Peoples R China 3.Nat Hist Museum, Fossil Reptiles Amphibians & Birds Sect, Cromwell Rd, London SW7 5BD, England
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Xu, Xing,Barrett, Paul M.. The origin and early evolution of feathers: implications, uncertainties and future prospects[J]. BIOLOGY LETTERS,2025,21(2):9.
APA	Xu, Xing,&Barrett, Paul M..(2025).The origin and early evolution of feathers: implications, uncertainties and future prospects.BIOLOGY LETTERS,21(2),9.
MLA	Xu, Xing,et al."The origin and early evolution of feathers: implications, uncertainties and future prospects".BIOLOGY LETTERS 21.2(2025):9.