A raw fossil of the partially feather dinosaurPsittacosaurushas bring out that these animals had bizarre peel that let in both bird - like feathering and reptile - like scales . The first - of - its - sort dodo provide new insight into the evolution from musical scale to feathers , demonstrating that these brute exhibited “ zoned exploitation ” in their skin .
The firstPsittacosaurusfossil was discovered in 1922 , but a more late breakthrough was able to reveal – for the first clock time – quite how peculiar their skin was . Dating back to the other Cretaceous , between 135 and 120 million years ago , it hold out at a metre when dinosaurs were starting toevolve into birds .
Psittacosaurusis suppose to have had feathers only on its tail , and now this new inquiry suggests that the skin across its whole soundbox differed bet on whether it was feathered or not . soft skin like that of modern hoot appears to have been associated with feathered areas , while the bald patches were scurfy , demonstrating that retainingreptilian skinduring the former stages offeather evolutionmay have improved the function of the skin .
The fossil skin under an electron microscope, showing mineralized cell layers.Image credit: Dr Zixiao Yang
The fossil skin could n’t be seen by the naked center , but with the aid of ultraviolet light , a squad of researchers were able-bodied to identify patches on thePsittacosaurusspecimen . They then used Adam - irradiation and infrared light to attend even nearer , reveal details of the skin ’s preserved cellular structure .
“ The fossil genuinely is a out of sight gem , ” said University College Cork paleontologist Dr Zixiao Yang in astatement . “ The fogy peel is not seeable to the naked oculus , and it persist hidden when the specimen was donated to Nanjing University in 2021 . Only under UV brightness is the cutis seeable , in a spectacular orange - yellowness gleam . ”
“ What is really surprising is the chemistry of the fossil skin . It is composed of silica – the same as glass . This type of preservation has never been found in craniate fogey . There are potentially many more fossils with obscure mild tissues await discovery . ”
The team states that their discovery indicates that boo - like peel only developed in choice , feathery patches ofdinosaur pelt , while the rest remainedscalyand reptilian - like . Skin is a large reed organ that comport out many affair , and so it could be that developing specialized cutis specific tofeatheredand bald regions , these dinosaur were skilful capable to protect themselves against injury , dehydration , and parasites .
The study is published inNature Communications .
