Pterosaurs may have been covered in fur and primitive feathers

Author: Carolyn Gramling / Source: Science News

Think of pterosaurs, the flying reptiles that were distant cousins to the dinosaurs, and you may imagine a fearsome, leathery, winged creature.

But new fossil evidence suggests at least some pterosaurs were soft and fluffy, covered in a diverse array of fibrous structures including possible precursors of feathers, scientists report online December 17 in Nature Ecology & Evolution.

The discovery adds to a growing body of evidence that featherlike structures may have been more common during the time of the dinosaurs than once thought.

Researchers led by paleontologist Zixiao Yang of Nanjing University in China identified four types of filaments called pycnofibers on two fossil pterosaur specimens, both dated to around 165 million to 160 million years ago. One of the pycnofiber types was a single, smooth, filament that covered the bodies of both animals and may have kept them warm, like fur. The other three types, however, all showed branching structures extending out from a central filament…

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