Excerpt from the web page wrote:A tiny, earlier cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex sported at least a partial coat of hairlike feathers, scientists reported today. The dinosaur chased prey and roamed the lakeside forests of Liaoning Province in northern China some 130 million years ago, researchers said. (See pictures of the new dinosaur.)
Although predicted by several paleontologists, the discovery marks the first time featherlike structures have been directly observed on a tyrannosaurid. Tyrannosaurids are predominantly large dinosaurs with short forelimbs that roamed Earth 130 to 65 million years ago.
Forgeries. We all know those scientists make lots of forgeries to prove their crackpot "theories"... oh wait, we're talking about evolution.
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Fascinating. Until now, the closest relative of the Tyrannosauridae confirmed to sport plumage was Nothronychus mckenlyi- a therazinosaurd, not exactly a very close relative.
Of course, that depends on where you place tyrannosaurids on the theropod family tree. Placing them with dromeosaurids, saurornithoids and ornithomimids seems to be in vogue these days. Some still assert that they're closer to allosaurids and megalosaurids. It's still debatable- er, was still debatable. This might just officially plunk the Tyrannosauridae into the Maniraptora.
Lazy Raptor wrote:Fascinating. Until now, the closest relative of the Tyrannosauridae confirmed to sport plumage was Nothronychus mckenlyi- a therazinosaurd, not exactly a very close relative.
I think you mean Beipiaosaurus (also a therizinosaur).
Lazy Raptor wrote:Of course, that depends on where you place tyrannosaurids on the theropod family tree. Placing them with dromeosaurids, saurornithoids and ornithomimids seems to be in vogue these days. Some still assert that they're closer to allosaurids and megalosaurids. It's still debatable- er, was still debatable. This might just officially plunk the Tyrannosauridae into the Maniraptora.
Well, pretty much nobody has them closer to the allosaurids and megalosaurids than to coelurosaurians anymore, as far as I know. They've been pretty comfortable near the base of Coelurosauria for a while now, although their neighbors have changed quite a bit. Protofeathers by themselves wouldn't be enough to put them with the maniraptors, as Sinosauropteryx, a compsognathid (for now) has them, and I haven't seen anyone put compies with the maniraptorans (although, to be fair, basal Coelurosauria is a mess).
I suppose technically speaking, the Therazinosauridae is even more bird-like than the Tyrannosauridae (and the Ornithomimidae for that matter) as they're actually Maniraptors. Confirmed integumentary insulation probably doesn't change that, I agree (they suspected it all along anyway).
Still, as far as I know, the Coelurosauria itself is totally defunct; an obsolete moniker from a time when the Theropoda was broken down into "large" and "small" ( ). I don't know any species that isn't an Avetheropod that also isn't an allosauroid or a member of the Maniraptoriformes.
They should dump the Carnosauria for that matter, since it only seems to apply to the Allosauroids.
Lazy Raptor wrote:Still, as far as I know, the Coelurosauria itself is totally defunct; an obsolete moniker from a time when the Theropoda was broken down into "large" and "small" ( ). I don't know any species that isn't an Avetheropod that also isn't an allosauroid or a member of the Maniraptoriformes.
They should dump the Carnosauria for that matter, since it only seems to apply to the Allosauroids.
I'm of two minds, myself.
On the one hand, it's pretty clear that Coelurosauria and Carnosauria have stuck mostly out of inertia and convenience. Since those were the names handy when the cladistic revolution began, they were grandfathered into use.
On the other hand, I still find Coelurosauria somewhat useful, espceially for those basal weirdos (the compies, Ornitholestes, Coelurus, Proceratosaurus) that don't really quite cut it anywhere else. I completely agree with you on Carnosauria, though.
The Shadow wrote:Fascinating discovery. Though I wonder what could be the use of feathers in a Tyrannosaurid. Maybe it serves as a tool to attract potential mates.
Or keeping warm. They're believed to have been warm blooded. It's possible that many of them hatched as downy chicks and then lost their feathers as they matured and didn't need the feathers anymore.
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Note that this particular Tyrannosaurid was nowhere near as large as a T-rex. So it might've had trouble keeping its warmth.
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This may also mean that other small species like Eotyrannus and Nanotyrannus were feathered as well. In the case of fossil feathers, absense of evidence is not evidence of absense. Feathers don't preserve well. The fact that feathery dinosaurs keep turning up in China speeks more to the fossilization process there than to the animals themselves. American and African dinosaurs couldn't have been all that dissimilar. Especially North American ones, as they're basically an Asian transplant fauna in the Cretaceous.
Protofeathers, or proto-protofeathers , could have an even-wider distribution among dinosaurs, depending on what the apparent tail "quills" of the Yixian Psittacosaurus turn out to be. If they're homologous to "dinofuzz" (very technical terminology here), that pushes similar integumentary structures all the way back to the base of Dinosauria. On the other hand, ornithischians have a talent for bony dermal structures, and many dinosaurs for which skin impressions are known have examples of nonbony knobs and such, like iguanas (dermal spines of diplodocids, nodes on Carnotaurus, a segemented midline frill on Gryposaurus...).
I've heard that there's a backlog of stuff from the Yixian in the publication chute, so who knows what else we'll see?
You know, whenever the subject of proto-feathers comes up, I'm invariably disappointed that the closest analogy we have today to what these things might have looked like--feathering affected by the recessive 'silkie' gene--never seems to get mentioned. This is a very old feather mutation most commonly characteristic of the domestic Silkie chicken breed, but which can be inherited by any breed mix. It modifies feathers so that they lack the barbules that hold the feather webs together and also tends to cause the body feathering to grow abnormally, the end result being that the bird appears to be covered by hair or fur instead of feathers. Silkie feathering also has a distinctly furlike texture and can be combed and brushed like fur. It is very easy to imagine what a coat of proto-feathering might have looked like once you see and touch one of these Silkie chickens (and yes, I've got some at home).
I also find it interesting that Silkie chickens are believed to have originated in China--Marco Polo mentioned them in his writings--exactly the same part of the world in which some feathered dino discoveries have been made. (Not that I'm suggesting that there's a direct connection; I just think it's quite the coincidence!)
Protofeathers by themselves wouldn't be enough to put them with the maniraptors, as Sinosauropteryx, a compsognathid (for now) has them, and I haven't seen anyone put compies with the maniraptorans (although, to be fair, basal Coelurosauria is a mess).
). I don't know any species that isn't an Avetheropod that also isn't an allosauroid or a member of the Maniraptoriformes.
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- PeZook
