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In a time when dinosaurs and birds both co-existed how do they tell the difference between dinosaur feathers and bird feathers? What are the features of feather

In a time when dinosaurs and birds both co-existed how do they tell the difference between dinosaur feathers and bird feathers? What are the features of feathers between these species that differentiate them?

GolDDranks 7y ago
Essentially (or, "cladistically"), birds _are_ dinosaurs, and even if you restrict yourself to "non-modern dinosaurs", where do you draw the line?
- tempguy9999 7y ago
  Well maybe. There were a class of very birdlike creatures called enantiornithines which I suspect are a completely different line and quite possibly not dinosaurs, however I've dug around before and am unable to find any precise statement of their genetic relationship to extant birds (and therefore their relationship to true dinosaurs). Enantiornithines had the wing joint inverted: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enantiornithes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enantiornithes "Enantiornitheans are thought to have left no living descendants ... the articulation of the shoulder bones – which has a concave-convex socket joint that is the reverse of that of modern birds" If anyone can elucidate, please do. At the bottom of the article is a link to another article on these creatures https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36651471 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36651471 "Ancient birds' wings preserved in amber"
kstenerud 7y ago
It's in the article, along with photographs and CT scans: "We can be sure of the source because the vertebrae are not fused into a rod or pygostyle as in modern birds and their closest relatives," he explained. "Instead, the tail is long and flexible, with keels of feathers running down each side." ... The feathers lack the well-developed central shaft - a rachis - known from modern birds. Their structure suggests that the two finest tiers of branching in modern feathers, known as barbs and barbules, arose before the rachis formed.
mutatio 7y ago
https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/avians.html https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/avians.html

GolDDranks 7y ago

Essentially (or, "cladistically"), birds _are_ dinosaurs, and even if you restrict yourself to "non-modern dinosaurs", where do you draw the line?

tempguy9999 7y ago
Well maybe. There were a class of very birdlike creatures called enantiornithines which I suspect are a completely different line and quite possibly not dinosaurs, however I've dug around before and am unable to find any precise statement of their genetic relationship to extant birds (and therefore their relationship to true dinosaurs). Enantiornithines had the wing joint inverted: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enantiornithes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enantiornithes "Enantiornitheans are thought to have left no living descendants ... the articulation of the shoulder bones – which has a concave-convex socket joint that is the reverse of that of modern birds" If anyone can elucidate, please do. At the bottom of the article is a link to another article on these creatures https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36651471 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36651471 "Ancient birds' wings preserved in amber"

kstenerud 7y ago

It's in the article, along with photographs and CT scans: "We can be sure of the source because the vertebrae are not fused into a rod or pygostyle as in modern birds and their closest relatives," he explained. "Instead, the tail is long and flexible, with keels of feathers running down each side." ... The feathers lack the well-developed central shaft - a rachis - known from modern birds. Their structure suggests that the two finest tiers of branching in modern feathers, known as barbs and barbules, arose before the rachis formed.

mutatio 7y ago

https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/avians.html https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/avians.html