Zheng et al. reply

Jingmai O’Connor (), Xiaoting Zheng and Zhonghe Zhou
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Jingmai O’Connor: Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origin, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xiaoting Zheng: † Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Linyi University, Linyi, Shandong 276000, China
Zhonghe Zhou: Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origin, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature, 2013, vol. 499, issue 7457, E1-E2

Abstract: Abstract REPLYING TO G. Mayr & A. Manegold Nature 499, 10.1038/nature12367 (2013) Our explanation that structures preserved in three Early Cretaceous Jehol birds1 are ovarian follicles is challenged by Mayr & Manegold2. We believe that their conclusions are speculative and do not take into account our original arguments. Contrary to Mayr & Manegold2, unambiguous evidence for the preservation of less resistant tissue, such as muscles or internal organs, are not scarce among Jehol fossils (for example, fish, lampreys)3 and eggs are sometimes preserved in specimens of the sturgeon Peipiaosteus (J.-Y. Zhang, personal communication). Although we cannot explain the vagaries of taphonomy that lead to the preservation of ovarian follicles in these specimens, what is clear is that exceptional preservation of soft tissue is dictated by the unique chemical microenvironment created by the individual decaying tissues, and thus varied degrees of preservation within a single specimen is expected4. Exceptional Jehol fossils are a reminder that simply because something is unlikely to preserve does not mean that it will not.

Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1038/nature12368

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