Can the substructure of fossil feathers provide taxonomic information?

Abstract

In the study reported here we explore a method for extracting information on the identity of fossil bird families from the fossil feather substructure and their possible taxonomic association with extant bird families. Such information can serve as an ecological indicator of the paleo-environment from which the fossil feathers have originated. It has been established that the balance between the water repellency and the resistance to water penetration of feathers can provide taxonomic information on bird families. These properties of feathers can be determined from the diameter of the barbs and their spacing, and their values correlate to the behavior/habitats of a large variety of families, particularly water bird families. The observed relationship between feather structure and habitat/behavior in extant water birds equally applies to fossil feathers and hence offers taxonomic clues about its avian bearer. The method is most productive for body feathers and limited to fossils of sufficient quality to permit evaluation in terms of barb diameter and spacing. The fossil feather collections of the Paleo-biology section of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC and the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum, Frankfurt a/M were examined, and those specimens most amenable to quantitative evaluation were measured. The family relation of several specimens could be independently verified by the presence of additional anatomic material.