Abstract
The preservation of delicate structures such as feathers is very rare in the paleontological record, due to the fragility of their components. Fossil feathers have been reported from approximately 50 deposits around the world, from the Late Jurassic to the Pleistocene. In Brazil initial findings consisted of a primary feather of a large bird found in the Tremembé Formation. Other occurrences are preserved in the Crato Formation, where several symmetrical and one single asymmetrical feather was found. Based on three new specimens and reassessing further feather occurrences we cannot confirm the presence of volant Aves in this deposit. The presence of an asymmetrical feather without barbules and hooks hints at the previous existence of a flightless animal within this deposit, possibly a flightlessness bird or a non-avian theropod. Conversely, the presence of a feather from morphotype II present in Tyrannosauroidea, Compsognathidae, Therizinosauroidea and Dromeosauridae, points to a non-theropod origin. Since there are no confirmed records of birds and other feathered archosaurs in the region to date, more evidence is required to identify the animal from which these structures originated.
Highlights
Feathers are among the most complex integumentary appendages found in any vertebrate (Lucas and Stettenheim 1972, Bereiter-Hahn et al 1986)
In the last decade feathers or primitive feathers have been documented in non-avian coelurosaurian theropod groups, on the basis of numerous specimens recovered from the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Group and the Jurassic Daohugou or Tiaojishan Formations in China (Xu et al 2010)
The new feathers presented in this study differ between themselves and others found in the Crato Formation, in terms of color, pattern, shape and size
Summary
Feathers are among the most complex integumentary appendages found in any vertebrate (Lucas and Stettenheim 1972, Bereiter-Hahn et al 1986). They have complex branched structures, grown from their bases by a unique mechanism, and come in an astonishing variety of shapes, sizes, structures, and colors (Prum and Brush 2002, Prum and Williamson 2001). Five main categories of feather are recognized today: contour feathers (body feathers, remiges and rectrices) and down feathers, semiplumes, filoplumes, and bristles (Prum 1999). UEJIMA that some fossil feathers are preserved as melanosomes (Vinther et al 2008, 2010)
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