Bohaiornithid (CUGB P1202)

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Time: Early Cretaceous (~120 million years ago)

Region: Liaoning Province, China

Formation: Jiufotang Formation, Jehol Biota

Coloration Data

Melanosome analysis of specimen CUGB P1202 demonstrated that contour feathers on the head, nape, and trunk possessed structural iridescence. Melanosomes were also identified in the wing flight feathers (remiges); however, their fine morphological structure was too degraded by taphonomic processes during fossilization to reconstruct the wing coloration with certainty.

Method: Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy.

Publications

• Jennifer A. Peteya, Julia A. Clarke, Quanguo Li, Ke-Qin Gao, Matthew D. Shawkey (2016)
  Description of the coloration of an enantiornithine bird specimen from the Jehol biota.
• Arindam Roy, Michael Pittman, Evan T. Saitta, Thomas G. Kaye, Xing Xu (2020)
  An overview article on the paleo‑coloration of amniotes.

Documents and files

• Peteya_et_al_2016.pdf (PDF)
  Study of the coloration of enantiornithine bird specimen CUGB P1202.
• Roy_et_al_2020.pdf (PDF)
  Review article on amniote paleocolor in Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Reconstructions

Fossils