Free PDF: Tyrannosaur integument-conflicting patterns of gigantism/feather evol.

[Simon]

From Ben Creisler to the Dinosaur Mailing List:


Ben Creisler
[email protected]


A new paper (free pdf):


Phil R. Bell, Nicolás E. Campione, W. Scott Persons, Philip J. Currie, Peter L. Larson, Darren H. Tanke & Robert T. Bakker (2017)
Tyrannosauroid integument reveals conflicting patterns of gigantism and feather evolution.

Biology Letters 2017 13 (6): 20170092
DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2017.0092

ARTICLE AT:  http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/13/6/20170092

FREE PDF: http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/roybiolett/13/6/20170092.full.pdf


Recent evidence for feathers in theropods has led to speculations that the largest tyrannosaurids, including Tyrannosaurus rex, were extensively feathered. We describe fossil integument from Tyrannosaurus and other tyrannosaurids (Albertosaurus, Daspletosaurus, Gorgosaurus and Tarbosaurus), confirming that these large-bodied forms possessed scaly, reptilian-like skin. Body size evolution in tyrannosauroids reveals two independent occurrences of gigantism; specifically, the large sizes in Yutyrannus and tyrannosaurids were independently derived. These new findings demonstrate that extensive feather coverings observed in some early tyrannosauroids were lost by the Albian, basal to Tyrannosauridae. This loss is unrelated to palaeoclimate but possibly tied to the evolution of gigantism, although other mechanisms exist.

[Neosodon]

We're already having a pretty major discussion about this.
http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=5792.0