A new study led by palaeontologists at University College Cork (UCC) has revealed remarkable new evidence that has solved a long-running mystery about the flying relatives of dinosaurs.
Through the study, an international team of palaeontologists have discovered that flying reptiles, pterosaurs were capable of controlling the colour of their feathers by using melanin pigments.
The discovery has settled a long-running debate among palaeontologists.
Pterosaurs lived side by side with dinosaurs between 230 and 66m years ago and for years, palaeontologists across the globe have argued about whether or not they had feathers.
The new study is based on analyses of a new 115m-year-old fossilised headcrest of the pterosaur, 'Tupandactylus imperator' from north-eastern Brazil.
This particular species of pterosaur is famous for its bizarre and huge headcrest. Through their research, the team of palaeontologists discovered the bottom of the crest had a fuzzy rim of feathers, with short wiry hair-like feathers along with fluffy branched feathers, just like birds today.
University College Cork’s Dr Aude Cincotta, who was one of the palaeontologists to lead the study, said they did “not expect to see this at all”.
“For decades, palaeontologists have argued about whether pterosaurs had feathers,” Dr Cincotta explained.
The feathers in our specimen close off that debate for good as they are very clearly branched all the way along their length, just like birds today.
The international team of palaeontologists from Cork, Belgium and Brazil studied the feathers by using high-powered electron microscopes and discovered preserved melanosomes, which are granules of the pigment melanin.
Unexpectedly, the new study shows that melanosomes in different feather types have different shapes.
UCC's Professor Maria McNamara explained how in birds today, feather colour is strongly linked to melanosome shape.
“Since the pterosaur feather types had different melanosome shapes, these animals must have had the genetic machinery to control the colours of their feathers,” Prof McNamara said.
“This feature is essential for colour patterning and shows that colouration was a critical feature of even the very earliest feathers," she added.
The study was led by the University College Cork palaeontologists Dr Aude Cincotta and Prof McNamara along with Dr Pascal Godefroit from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, and an international team of scientists from both Brazil and Belgium.
With the help of the collective efforts of the Belgian and Brazilian scientists, along with the authorities working with a private donor, the remarkable specimen has now been repatriated to Brazil.
Dr Pascal Godefroit from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences said it “is so important that scientifically important fossils such as this are returned to their countries of origin and safely conserved for posterity”.
“These fossils can then be made available to scientists for further study and can inspire future generations of scientists through public exhibitions that celebrate our natural heritage,” he added.
