Wulong bohaiensis (juvenile)

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Time: Early Cretaceous (~120 million years ago)

Region: Liaoning Province, China

Formation: Jiufotang Formation, Jehol Biota

Coloration Data

In Croudace et al. (2023), specimen DNHM D2933, representing a one-year-old juvenile Wulong bohaiensis, was investigated. The analysis indicated a high probability of iridescence in the feathers of the forearms and lower legs, suggesting that the flight feathers on both the fore- and hindlimbs exhibited an iridescent or glossy sheen. Trunk samples taken from the back and chest were classified as grey. However, small, oval melanosomes sampled from the pectoral region produced ambiguous statistical predictions: QDA predicted grey, whereas MLR suggested brown. The authors propose that this discrepancy could reflect an intermediate plumage tone (between grey and brown) or represent an artifact caused by the physical overlapping of different feathers. The head, tail, and ventral regions were not assessed for coloration.

Method: Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and statistical melanosome morphology analysis using QDA and MLR.

Publications

• Angus D. Croudace, Caizhi Shen, Junchang Lü, Stephen L. Brusatte, Jakob Vinther (2023)
  Study of the coloration of Wulong bohaiensis.

Documents and files

• Croudace_et_al_2023.pdf (PDF)
  Article from Acta Palaeontologica Polonica on the coloration of a juvenile Wulong bohaiensis.

Reconstructions

Fossils

Size comparison