Gigantoraptor feathers (not quote)

[evelyn sobielski <koreke77@yahoo.de>]

I don't think that theropod "proto-down" (which is
more like "para-down") has been described from fossils
not attached to skeletal specimens. But I have found
one picture (with little further info) of something
that is at least not avian:

Evgeny N. Kurochkin: A True Carinate Bird from Lower
Cretaceous Deposits in Mongolia and Other Evidence of
Early Cretaceous Birds in Asia. Cretaceous Research
(1985) 6: 271-278
(Image 2a).

There are several misidentifications of plant fiber as
"down" or "proto-down". This, judging from its shape,
might be the genunine article. Best match I have seen
so far among isolated specimens: it lacks even the
slightest indication of a keel, being simply a tuft of
filaments. The paper, of course, if from an era where
nobody would have realy thought that non-avian dinos
had feathery integument.


Regards,

Eike


                
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