Praeornis sharovi Rautian, 1978 a fossil feather from the early Late Jurassic of Kazakhstan

• Autor(a) principal: Agnolín, Federico L.
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Outros Autores: Rozadilla, Sebastián, Carvalho, Ismar de Souza
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFRJ
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/11422/3324
• topic: Praeornis; Cratoavis; Fossil feather; Fóssil de pena; Paleontologia; Paleobiologia; CNPQ::CIENCIAS EXATAS E DA TERRA::GEOCIENCIAS

Since its original description as a feather belonging to a basal bird, the phylogenetic position of Praeornis sharovi was debated. It was considered as belonging to a bird, a cycad leaf, or as a ‘transitional’ integumentary structure between reptile scales and bird feathers. Recently, a basal enantiornithine bird was collected in Early Cretaceous beds of Brazil. This specimen shows very well-preserved rachis-dominated tail feathers with a very thick rachis and thick and rigid barbules. These features are present in Praeornis, suggesting that this fossil may be interpreted as the tail feather of a basal bird. In this way, Praeornis constitutes one of the oldest records of rachis-dominated feathers in the world. Rachis-dominated tail feathers, including that of Praeornis appear to be rigid paired structures not performed for aerodynamical purposes, suggesting that may be important in body balance.