Coelurosauria indet. (DIP-V-15103)

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Time: Mid-Cretaceous (~99 million years ago)

Region: Kachin State (Hukawng Valley), Myanmar

Formation: Burmese amber

Coloration Data

A section of the feathered tail of a juvenile coelurosaurian dinosaur (specimen DIP-V-15103) was discovered entombed in Burmese amber. The fossil preserves direct traces of original in-life coloration, demonstrating distinct countershading: the dorsal surface of the plumage is chestnut-brown, whereas the ventral surface is markedly pale or white. Due to potential taphonomic alterations within the resin over time, the plumage in life may have been somewhat darker or displayed a slightly different shade of brown. The melanosomes inside the feathers exhibit simple geometries and are randomly arranged, confirming that the plumage was matte and lacked metallic gloss or structural iridescence.

Method: Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence (SR-XRF), and direct visual inspection of macropigmentation preserved within the amber matrix.

Publications

• Lida Xing, Ryan C. McKellar, Xing Xu, Gang Li, Ming Bai, W. Scott Persons 4th, Tetsuto Miyashita, Michael J. Benton, Jianping Zhang, Alexander P. Wolfe, Qiru Yi, Kuowei Tseng, Hao Ran, Philip J. Currie (2016)
  An article describing the DIP-V-15103 specimen from Burmese amber.

Documents and files

• Xing_et_al_2016.pdf (PDF)
  Study of a juvenile coelurosaur preserved in Burmese amber.

Reconstructions

Fossils