Pterosaur melanosomes support signalling functions for early feathers

Aude Cincotta (), Michaël Nicolaï, Hebert Bruno Nascimento Campos, Maria McNamara (), Liliana D’Alba, Matthew D. Shawkey, Edio-Ernst Kischlat, Johan Yans, Robert Carleer, François Escuillié and Pascal Godefroit
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Aude Cincotta: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Michaël Nicolaï: Ghent University
Hebert Bruno Nascimento Campos: Centro Universitário Maurício de Nassau
Maria McNamara: University College Cork
Liliana D’Alba: Ghent University
Matthew D. Shawkey: Ghent University
Edio-Ernst Kischlat: Geological Survey of Brazil
Johan Yans: University of Namur
Robert Carleer: Hasselt University
François Escuillié: ELDONIA
Pascal Godefroit: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences

Nature, 2022, vol. 604, issue 7907, 684-688

Abstract: Abstract Remarkably well-preserved soft tissues in Mesozoic fossils have yielded substantial insights into the evolution of feathers1. New evidence of branched feathers in pterosaurs suggests that feathers originated in the avemetatarsalian ancestor of pterosaurs and dinosaurs in the Early Triassic2, but the homology of these pterosaur structures with feathers is controversial3,4. Reports of pterosaur feathers with homogeneous ovoid melanosome geometries2,5 suggest that they exhibited limited variation in colour, supporting hypotheses that early feathers functioned primarily in thermoregulation6. Here we report the presence of diverse melanosome geometries in the skin and simple and branched feathers of a tapejarid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous found in Brazil. The melanosomes form distinct populations in different feather types and the skin, a feature previously known only in theropod dinosaurs, including birds. These tissue-specific melanosome geometries in pterosaurs indicate that manipulation of feather colour—and thus functions of feathers in visual communication—has deep evolutionary origins. These features show that genetic regulation of melanosome chemistry and shape7–9 was active early in feather evolution.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04622-3

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