Taphonomic experiments resolve controls on the preservation of melanosomes and keratinous tissues in feathers.

ABSTRACT: Fossils are a key source of data on the evolution of feather structure and function through deep time, but their ability to resolve macroevolutionary questions is compromised by an incomplete understanding of their taphonomy. Critically, the relative preservation potential of two key feather components, melanosomes and keratinous tissue, is not fully resolved. Recent studies suggesting that melanosomes are preferentially preserved conflict with observations that melanosomes preserve in fossil feathers as external moulds in an organic matrix. To date, there is no model to explain the latter mode of melanosome preservation. We addressed these issues by degrading feathers in systematic taphonomic experiments incorporating decay, maturation and oxidation in isolation and combination. Our resul

SUBMITTER: Slater TS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6988486 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature