More on fossil feathers

27 Oct 2014

New Science paper for Dr Maria McNamara.

UCC School of BEES palaeontologist Dr Maria McNamara is involved in a paper published recently in the journal Science (doi: 10.1126/science.1259983). This paper follows on from the team’s discovery earlier this year of fossil feathers in a primitive dinosaur from Siberia (doi: 10.1126/science.1253351). This finding has proved controversial, with some other palaeontologists disputing whether the preserved features in the dinosaur are indeed feathers (doi: 10.1126/science.1259983).

McNamara’s current paper is an official response to these concerns and presents additional new data that the fossil features are feathers, confirming the team’s original interpretations of feather preservation and evolution.