Ornithischian with complex feather-like structures found in Siberia (SVP abstract)

[Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com>]

From: Ben Creisler
bcreisler@gmail.com


This abstract from the SVP meeting refers to the small feathered
ornithischian found in Chita, Siberia, preserved in volcanic ash.  See
earlier DML posting, where it's informally called "Kulindodromeus":

http://dml.cmnh.org/2013Jul/msg00294.html



Symposium 4 (Saturday, November 2, 2013, 9:30 AM)

FEATHER-LIKE STRUCTURES AND SCALES IN A JURASSIC NEORNITHISCHIAN
DINOSAUR FROM SIBERIA
GODEFROIT, Pascal, Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Brussels,
Belgium; SINITSA, Sofia, Institute of Natural Resources, Ecology and
Cryology, SB
RAS, Chita, Russia; DHOUAILLY, Danielle, Université Joseph Fournier, La Tronche,
France; BOLOTSKY, Yuri, Institute of Geology and Nature Management, FEB RAS,
Blagoveschensk, Russia; SIZOV, Alexander, Institute of the Earth’s
Crust, SB RAS,
Irkutsk, Russia

Recent discoveries in Middle–Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous
deposits from northeastern China have revealed that numerous theropod
dinosaurs were covered by feathers. Furthermore, filamentous
integumentary structures were also recently described in rare Early
Cretaceous ornithischian dinosaurs from Liaoning Province in China.
Whether these filaments can be regarded as epidermal and therefore
part of the evolutionary lineage towards feathers remains
controversial. Here we describe a new basal neornithischian dinosaur,
based on isolated bones and partial skeletons collected in two
monospecific bonebeds from the Middle–Late Jurassic Kulinda locality
in the Transbaikal region (Russia). Varied integumentary structures
were found directly associated with skeletal elements, supporting the
hypothesis that simple filamentous feathers, as well as compound
feather-like structures comparable to those in theropods, were
widespread amongst the whole dinosaur clade. Moreover, scales along
the distal tibia and on the foot closely resemble the
secondarily-appearing pedal scales in extant birds. More surprisingly,
dorso-ventral movements of the tail were prevented by large imbricated
scales on its dorsal surface. It is hypothesized that, at the same
time early feathers evolved within the whole dinosaur clade, genetic
mechanisms limiting the growth of long epidermal structures on the
distal portion of the hind limb and on the tail were selected as they
facilitate bipedal terrestrial locomotion.

==

Here's a photo from 2012 of scales that may be from the same kind of dinosaur:

http://www.interfax-russia.ru/Siberia/view.asp?id=340449