Microraptor tempted mates with iridescent plumage

Microraptors, tiny four-winged dinosaurs that flourished approximately 120 million years ago in northeastern China, allured mates with sexy polychromatic feathers, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science. The article, “Reconstruction of Microraptor and the Evolution of Iridescent Plumage,” suggests that the Microraptor, with its iridescent plumage, looked very similar to one of today’s crows. “With numerous fossil discoveries of birds and flowered plants, we knew that the Cretaceous was a colorful world, but now we’ve further enhanced that view with Microraptor as the first dinosaur to show iridescent color,” said Ke-Qin Gao, a coauthor of the study and researcher from Peking University in Beijing, according to a press release from the American Museum of Natural History. “Just a few years ago it would have been inconceivable for us to have imagined doing a study like this,” Mr. Gao added. Despite its birdlike appearance, the Microraptor could not fly, reports the Christian Science Monitor. The tiny dinosaur’s skeleton and muscle structures did not allow it to fly. However, some scientists insist that it should still be considered a bird. “To me a bird is an animal with an avian hand and wrist with primary flight feathers,” said Larry Martin, a professor at the University of Kansas who was not involved in study. “By that definition Microraptor is definitely a bird,” Mr. Martin added. ScienceNow, a publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, reveals that after a thorough analysis of a Microraptor fossil found in northeastern China, researchers report that Microraptor feathers were loaded with a pigment granule called melanosomes. According to an article published in 2008 in the Journal of Cell Science, melanosomes “provide tissues with color and photoprotection.” ScienceNow also reports that the particular shape of the melanosomes in Microraptor feathers suggests that the tiny four-winged dinosaur would have had iridescent plumage. Evidence that Microraptors had iridescent plumage also suggests that the dinosaur was not nocturnal, unlike previous studies have theorized. “A data set sampling variables of extant avian melanosomes reveals that those forming most iridescent arrays are distinctly narrow. Quantitative comparison of these data with melanosome imprints densely sampled from a previously unknown specimen of the Early Cretaceous feathered Microraptor predicts that its plumage was predominantly iridescent,” the researchers from Beijing and the United States wrote in the study’s abstract. This is not the first time that paleontologists have discovered dinosaurs with unique feather coloring. The New York Times reports that Canadian paleontologists were responsible for highlighting some of the first evidence of feather coloring among dinosaurs. In 2011, the Canadian paleontologists described creatures with polychromatic coloring that lived 70 million years ago. Jakob Vinther, who led the study, was the first researcher to figure out that scientists could ascertain the colors of ancient feathers by looking at the melansomes in a fossil, reports Discover Magazine. “It’s one of the most beautiful Microraptor specimens out there,” Mr. Vinther posited. The researchers believe that the iridescent plumage had a purely “ornamental function” for the tiny four-winged dinosaur, allowing the creature to attract potential mates. “This finding and estimation of Microraptor feathering consistent with an ornamental function for the tail suggest a centrality for signaling in early evolution of plumage and feather color,” the researchers wrote in the study’s abstract. “Iridescence is widespread in modern birds, and is frequently used in displays,” said Matthew Shawkey, a biologist at the University of Akron in Ohio, in a statement obtained by The New York Times. “Our evidence that Microraptor was largely iridescent thus suggests that feathers were important for display even relatively early in their evolution,” Mr. Shawkey added. After a thorough analysis of the Microraptor fossil, researchers ruled out the possibility that the four-winged dinosaur used its iridescent plumage to help it fly. “People had interpreted (the tail feathers) as being helpful in aerodynamics, but now we know it wasn’t aerodynamic, it actually probably hindered in flight,” Mr. Shawkey posited. “I think this is the first example of these very early ornamental tail feathers,” he added. Prior to this study, scientists were left guessing as to what Microraptors really looked like. In fact, Mark Norell, the chairman of the American Museum of Natural History’s Division of Paleontology and one of the study’s authors, called the tiny four-winged dinosaur’s appearance the “Anna Wintour special,” according to The Associated Press. Ms. Wintour is the British-born editor-in-chief of American Vogue. “The Devil Wears Prada” is widely believed to be based on Ms. Wintour. “This study gives us an unprecedented glimpse at what this animal looked like when it was alive,” said Mr. Norell, according to redOrbit. Study co-author Julia Clarke at the University of Texas posited that its iridescent plumage is the oldest example of that appearance on an animal. “Some of these structures were clearly ancestral characteristics that arose for other functions and stuck around, while others may be linked to display behaviors or signaling of mate quality. Feather features were surely shaped by early locomotor styles. But, as any birder will tell you, feather colors and shapes may also be tied with complex behavioral repertoires and, if anything, may be costly in terms of aerodynamics,” Ms. Clarke added. “There’s been a lot of speculation about how the feathers of Microraptor were oriented and whether they formed airfoils for flight or whether they had to do with sexual display,” Mr. Norell said. “So while we’ve nailed down what color this animal was, even more importantly, we’ve determined that Microraptor, like many modern birds, most likely used its ornate feathering to give visual social signals,” he added. A press release from the American Museum of Natural History points out that “Microraptor is considered a non-avian dinosaur and is placed in group of dinosaurs called dromaeosaurs that includes Velociraptor.”