Abstract
Earlier research on feather morphology emphasized comprehensively on the body contour feather than various other types of feathers. Therefore, we conducted a systematic study on all feather types of the Indian Pitta Pitta brachyura, a passerine bird native to the Indian subcontinent. Feather barbs from wing contour, tail contour, body contour, semiplume, down, powder down, and bristle feathers were retrieved from the bird and observed under a light microscope. Primary flight feathers from the right and left wing were longest (85.17 mm and 87.32 mm, respectively), whereas bristle feathers were the shortest (5.31 mm). The mean barb length was observed to be the highest (11.37±0.47 mm) in the wing feather followed by body contour (8.31±0.39 mm), semiplume (8.27±0.22 mm), tail feather (7.85±0.50 mm), down (6.45±0.21 mm), powder down (6.04±0.23 mm), and bristle (2.70±0.07 mm). Pearson correlation was found positive for barb length and feather length of down feathers (r= 0.996, p ≤0.05). We observed a novel type of barb the first time from dorsal body contour feather having plumulaceous barbules at the base followed by pennaceous barbules. This unique barbule arrangement is termed ‘sub-plumulaceous’ as it is distinct and analogous to known ‘sub-pennaceous’ type arrangement found absent in passerines.
Highlights
Feathers are the most numerous, elaborate, and diverse derivatives of avian integument (Gill 1995)
We reported in this study for the first time that bristles display microscopic morphological characteristics similar to down or powder down feathers (Image 12) (Table 5)
The barbs of bristle feathers were characterized by the presence of villi, nodes, prongs and absence of hooklets and ventral teeth same as in down and powder down feather types
Summary
Feathers are the most numerous, elaborate, and diverse derivatives of avian integument (Gill 1995). All birds have different types of feather assorted in their plumage (Gill 1995). These feathers vary considerably in macroscopic (colouration, texture, pattern, shape, and size) and microscopic characteristics (minute morphological appendages) (Dove 1997a). A handful of studies on feather examination have been reported over the years, still many questions regarding feather morphology have not been answered (Lee et al 2016). Morphological examination of feather structures in the present day has acquired importance in diverse range of disciplines such as phylogeny (Dove 1997a ; Bensch et al 2009), palaeontology (Messinger 1965; Dove et al 2010), archaeology (Harwood 2011), avian ecology (Galván 2011; Fairhurst et al 2013), wildlife forensics (Dove & Coddington 2015), biomechanics (Kulp et al 2018), and material sciences (Lingham-Soliar 2017)
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