Dinosaur tail feathers preserved in amber in Myanmar

A unique discovery of dinosaur tail feathers preserved in amber have been found in Myanmar. It’s not an ancient bird, but a small feathered dinosaur.

Author of the academic paper in the journal, Current Biology, Lida Xing from the China University of Geosciences in Beijing, discovered the fossil at an amber market in Myitkina, Myanmar. The 99-million-year-old amber fossil had already been polished to sell as jewellery, and the seller thought it was plant material in the amber.

Inspecting it closely, Xing found it to be a tail feather of a dinosaur the size of a sparrow. The tail with the feathers still attached had chestnut brown feathers on top and white feathers on its underside.

Xing tracked down the amber miner, and was able to locate the exact location.

Co-author of the academic paper, Dr Ryan McKellar of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada said it’s the first time dinosaur material has been found preserved in amber. He said it is not an ancient bird, but a feathered dinosaur. ‘We can be sure of the source because the vertebrae [bones that form the spine] are not fused into a rod or pygostyle as in modern birds and the closest relatives. Instead, the tail in long and flexible, with keels of feathers running down each side.’

McKellar said there are signs that the dinosaur still contained fluids when it was preserved into the tree resin that eventually formed the amber. The dinosaur may have become trapped in the sticky resin while it was alive.

Another co-author, Professor Mike Benton from the University of Bristol in England, said that the tail was very detailed with the bones, flesh, skin, and feathers. The tail was exposed at the surface of the amber and shows traces of ferrous iron, a relic of the blood that was once in the fossil.

The fossil also shows how the feathers were arranged on these small dinosaurs. The feathers lack the well-developed central shaft (called a rachis). Their structure suggests that the two finest tiers of branching in modern feathers (known as barbs and barbules) arose before the rachis formed.

The amber fossil of the dinosaur was found in Kachin State, northeastern Myanmar, an area that has been producing amber for 2,000 years. Due to the large number of insects, scientists who study ancient arthropods, visit the area. So other amber fossil dinosaurs might have also been in the area and missed or already sold as jewellery.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38224564

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).