Tyrannosauroid integument reveals conflicting patterns of gigantism and feather evolution

Bell, Phil R.; Campione, Nicolás E.; Persons, W. Scott; Currie, Philip J.; Larson, Peter L.; Tanke, Darren H.; Bakker, Robert T.

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2017.0092

Cited by 30 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…(), using a maximum likelihood method developed in the package phytools v. 0.6‐20 Revell (), adapting a script from Bell et al . (). Taxa for which crown diameter and/or crown height values could not be obtained were pruned from the tree.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Increased pliosaurid dental disparity across the Jurassic–Cretaceous transition

et al. 2018

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Pliosaurid marine reptiles played important roles in marine food chains from the Middle Jurassic to the middle Cretaceous, frequently as apex predators. The evolution of pliosaurids during the later parts of the Early Cretaceous has recently been illuminated by discoveries from Russia (Hauterivian) and Colombia (Barremian). However, knowledge of pliosaurids representing the Jurassic–Cretaceous transition (late Tithonian – Valanginian), is still largely incomplete, especially during the earliest Cretaceous. As such, the effect on pliosaurids of hypothesized faunal turnover during the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary interval is poorly understood. We report pliosaurid teeth from the upper Volgian (Tithonian, Upper Jurassic) of the Kheta river basin (Eastern Siberia, Russia), to the Berriasian and Valanginian (Lower Cretaceous) of the Volga region (European Russia). These assemblages have yielded a series of distinct tooth morphotypes, including the first reports of conical‐toothed pliosaurids from the latest Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous. This challenges the hypothesis that only one lineage of pliosaurids crossed the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary. It appears that conical‐toothed pliosaurids co‐existed with their trihedral‐toothed relatives for at least 25 million years during the latest Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous. In fact, our quantitative analyses indicate that pliosaurids reached their maximal dental disparity during this interval, showing little evidence of turnover associated with the Jurassic–Cretaceous transition. Instead, disparity decreased later in the Early Cretaceous, with the disappearance of trihedral‐toothed forms in the Barremian.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Increased pliosaurid dental disparity across the Jurassic–Cretaceous transition

et al. 2018

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“…; Bell et al. ; Brusatte ). In basal branches of the Coelurosauria, including the Compsognathidae, Tyrannosauroidea (Xu et al.…”

Section: Example From the Functional History Of Feathersmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…; Bell et al. ), simple filamentous feathers frequently covered most of the body, including the neck, torso, and belly. Many taxa also show a complete covering of the arms, legs, and tail (Zelenitsky et al.…”

Section: Example From the Functional History Of Feathersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Example From the Functional History Of Feathersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Among nonavian coelurosaurs, although perhaps less so among large-bodied forms (Xu et al 2012;Bell et al 2017), simple filamentous feathers frequently covered most of the body, including the neck, torso, and belly. Many taxa also show a complete covering of the arms, legs, and tail (Zelenitsky et al 2012;Bell et al 2017;Brusatte 2017). In basal branches of the Coelurosauria, including the Compsognathidae, Tyrannosauroidea (Xu et al 2004(Xu et al , 2012, and the enigmatic genera Juravenator (Chiappe and Göhlich 2010) and Sciurumimus (Rauhut et al 2012;Godefroit et al 2013), only feathers of the simple single filament or plumaceous form (Stage I and II) are known.…”

Section: Example From the Functional History Of Feathersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Feather evolution exemplifies sexually selected bridges across the adaptive landscape

Persons

Currie

2019

Evolution

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Over the last two decades, paleontologists have pieced together the early evolutionary history of feathers. Simple hair‐like feathers served as insulating pelage, but the first feathers with complex branching structures and a plainer form evolved for the purpose of sexual display. The evolution of these complex display feathers was essential to the later evolution of flight. Feathers illustrate how sexual selection can generate complex novel phenotypes, which are then available for natural selection to modify and direct toward novel functions. In the longstanding metaphor of the adaptive landscape, sexual selection is a means by which lineages resting on one adaptive peak may gradually bridge a gap to another peak, without the landscape itself being first altered by environmental changes.

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