Rachis morphology cannot accurately predict the mechanical performance of primary feathers in extant (and therefore fossil) feathered flyers.

ABSTRACT: It was previously suggested that the flight ability of feathered fossils could be hypothesized from the diameter of their feather rachises. Central to the idea is the unvalidated assumption that the strength of a primary flight feather (i.e. its material and structural properties) may be consistently calculated from the external diameter of the feather rachis, which is the only dimension that is likely to relate to structural properties available from fossils. Here, using three-point bending tests, the relationship between feather structural properties (maximum bending moment, M_max and Young's modulus, E_bend) and external morphological parameters (primary feather rachis length, diameter and second moment of area at the calamus) in 180 primary feathers fr

SUBMITTER: Lees J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5367274 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature