Dino-bird fossil had sparkly feathers 'to attract mate '

[sauroid]

An extinct bird that lived about 120 million years ago had iridescent feathers that it may have used to attract a mate, fossil evidence shows.


http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37950166

[CityRaptor]

Interesting but not all that surprising. Wasn't that also the case with Microraptor?

[Brontozaurus]

Imagine an iridescent T. rex.

[sauroid]

i dont know if the species isnt officially known yet or that article is so lacking with information.

[BlueKrono]

:insert comment about Edward Cullensaurus here::

But seriously, how incredible is it that the fossil preservation was so good that even microscopic details could be seen?

[Dinoguy2]

i dont know if the species isnt officially known yet or that article is so lacking with information.

The official paper lists its species as indeterminate, but it's a member of the Bohaiornithidae. It's a young subadult, which makes it hard to compare with the larger specimens of known bohaiornithid species, which are all extremely similar to each other anyway.