Mosaic evolution in an asymmetrically feathered troodontid dinosaur with transitional features

Xing Xu (), Philip Currie, Michael Pittman, Lida Xing, Qingjin Meng, Junchang Lü, Dongyu Hu and Congyu Yu
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Xing Xu: Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Philip Currie: University of Alberta
Michael Pittman: Vertebrate Palaeontology Laboratory, The University of Hong Kong
Lida Xing: School of the Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences
Qingjin Meng: Beijing Museum of Natural History
Junchang Lü: Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences
Dongyu Hu: Paleontological Institute & Key Laboratory for Evolution of Past Life in Northeast Asia, Ministry of Land and Resources, Shenyang Normal University
Congyu Yu: College of Life Sciences, Peking University

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Asymmetrical feathers have been associated with flight capability but are also found in species that do not fly, and their appearance was a major event in feather evolution. Among non-avialan theropods, they are only known in microraptorine dromaeosaurids. Here we report a new troodontid, Jianianhualong tengi gen. et sp. nov., from the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Group of China, that has anatomical features that are transitional between long-armed basal troodontids and derived short-armed ones, shedding new light on troodontid character evolution. It indicates that troodontid feathering is similar to Archaeopteryx in having large arm and leg feathers as well as frond-like tail feathering, confirming that these feathering characteristics were widely present among basal paravians. Most significantly, the taxon has the earliest known asymmetrical troodontid feathers, suggesting that feather asymmetry was ancestral to Paraves. This taxon also displays a mosaic distribution of characters like Sinusonasus, another troodontid with transitional anatomical features.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14972

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