Re: Confuciusornis gender identification - PDF Received

[Jura <pristichampsus@yahoo.com>]

Thanks all.

Jason




----- Original Message -----
> From: Jura <pristichampsus@yahoo.com>
> To: "dinosaur@usc.edu" <dinosaur@usc.edu>
> Cc: 
> Sent: Tuesday, 22 January 2013 1:09 PM
> Subject: Re: Confuciusornis gender identification - PDF Request
> 
> Our university doesn't get Nature Communications. Could someone pass along a 
> copy of the paper.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Jason
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
>>  From: Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com>
>>  To: dinosaur@usc.edu
>>  Cc: 
>>  Sent: Tuesday, 22 January 2013 12:58 PM
>>  Subject: Confuciusornis gender identification
>> 
>>  From: Ben Creisler
>>  bcreisler@gmail.com
>> 
>>  Also in Nature Communications:
>> 
>>  Anusuya Chinsamy, Luis M. Chiappe, Jesús Marugán-Lobón, Gao Chunling &
>>  Zhang Fengjiao (2013)
>>  Gender identification of the Mesozoic bird Confuciusornis sanctus.
>>  Nature Communications 4, Article number: 1381
>>  doi:10.1038/ncomms2377
>>  http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4/n1/full/ncomms2377.html
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>  Hundreds of specimens of the beaked bird Confuciusornis sanctus have
>>  been recovered from Early Cretaceous lake deposits of northeastern
>>  China. These birds show remarkable variation in size and plumage, with
>>  some displaying two long, central ornamental rectrices (tail feathers)
>>  and others lacking them altogether. Although, traditionally specimens
>>  with ornamental rectrices were interpreted as males and those without
>>  them as females, this supposed sexual dimorphism has remained
>>  unconfirmed. Here we report on the discovery of medullary bone, a
>>  tissue unique to reproductively active female birds, in a specimen of
>>  C. sanctus (DNHM-D1874) lacking these feathers. Our discovery
>>  constitutes the first case of gender identification in a Mesozoic
>>  bird, and it provides undisputed evidence that individuals of C.
>>  sanctus without ornamental rectrices are females. By permitting gender
>>  identification in C. sanctus, our results provide insight into the
>>  onset of sexual maturit
ize of this and
>>  other early birds.
>> 
>> 
>>  See this as well:
>> 
>>  http://phys.org/news/2013-01-sex-early-birds-dinosaur-reproductive.html
>> 
>