比利时皇家自然科学研究所Aude Cincotta等研究人员合作发现，翼龙黑素体支持早期羽毛的信号功能。相关论文于2022年4月20日在线发表在《自然》杂志上。
研究人员报告了在巴西发现的早白垩世古神翼龙的皮肤和简单及分支的羽毛中存在不同的黑素体几何结构。黑素体在不同的羽毛类型和皮肤中形成不同的群体，这一特征以前只在包括鸟类在内的兽脚类恐龙中出现过。翼龙的这些组织特异性黑素体的几何形状表明，对羽毛颜色的操纵，从而使羽毛在视觉交流中的功能，有着深刻的进化起源。这些特征表明，黑素体化学和形状的遗传调节在羽毛进化的早期是活跃的。
据介绍，中生代化石中保存了非常好的软组织，使人们对羽毛的进化有了实质性的认识。翼龙分枝羽毛的新证据表明，羽毛起源于三叠纪早期翼龙和恐龙的祖先，但这些翼龙的结构与羽毛的同源性存在争议。有关翼龙羽毛的报告，其黑素体的几何形状是均匀的，表明它们的颜色变化有限，从而支持早期羽毛主要用于温度调节的假说。
附：英文原文
Title: Pterosaur melanosomes support signalling functions for early feathers
Author: Cincotta, Aude, Nicola, Michal, Campos, Hebert Bruno Nascimento, McNamara, Maria, DAlba, Liliana, Shawkey, Matthew D., Kischlat, Edio-Ernst, Yans, Johan, Carleer, Robert, Escuilli, Franois, Godefroit, Pascal
Issue&Volume: 2022-04-20
Abstract: Remarkably well-preserved soft tissues in Mesozoic fossils have yielded substantial insights into the evolution of feathers1. New evidence of branched feathers in pterosaurs suggests that feathers originated in the avemetatarsalian ancestor of pterosaurs and dinosaurs in the Early Triassic2, but the homology of these pterosaur structures with feathers is controversial3,4. Reports of pterosaur feathers with homogeneous ovoid melanosome geometries2,5 suggest that they exhibited limited variation in colour, supporting hypotheses that early feathers functioned primarily in thermoregulation6. Here we report the presence of diverse melanosome geometries in the skin and simple and branched feathers of a tapejarid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous found in Brazil. The melanosomes form distinct populations in different feather types and the skin, a feature previously known only in theropod dinosaurs, including birds. These tissue-specific melanosome geometries in pterosaurs indicate that manipulation of feather colour—and thus functions of feathers in visual communication—has deep evolutionary origins. These features show that genetic regulation of melanosome chemistry and shape7,8,9 was active early in feather evolution.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04622-3
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04622-3
Nature：《自然》，创刊于1869年。隶属于施普林格·自然出版集团，最新IF：69.504
官方网址：http://www.nature.com/
投稿链接：http://www.nature.com/authors/submit_manuscript.html
本期文章：《自然》：Online/在线发表
