Posts Tagged ‘bird fossil’

WFS News: Keratin and melanosomes preserved in 130-million-year-old bird fossil Eoconfuciusornis

New research from North Carolina State University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Linyi University has found evidence of original keratin and melanosome preservation in a 130-million-year-old Eoconfuciusornis specimen. The work extends the timeframe in which original molecules may preserve, and demonstrates the ability to distinguish between ancient microstructures in fossils. Eoconfuciusornis, crow-sized primitive birds […]

Archaeornithura meemannae : a new bird fossil

Scientists in China have described a new species of early bird, from two fossils with intact plumage dating to 130 million years ago. Based on the age of the surrounding rocks, this is the earliest known member of the clade that produced today’s birds: Ornithuromorpha.It pushes back the branching-out of this evolutionary group by at […]