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Exceptional preservation of soft tissue in a new specimen of Eoconfuciusornis and its biological implications Zheng, O'Connor, Wang, Pan, Wang, Wang & Zhou, 2017

*This image is copyright of its original author

In vivo reconstruction of a male and female pair of Eoconfuciusornis. Artwork by Michael Rothman.

*This image is copyright of its original author

(a) Photograph of Eoconfuciusornis indet. STM7-144, preserved in right lateral view; scale bar equals 20 mm. Inset SEM images (all scale bars equal 2 μm); (b) left-wing coverts (sample 2_2) preserving black eumelanosomes; © coronal feathers (sample 2_1) preserving grey eumelanosomes; (d) dark spot of secondaries (sample A) preserving black eumelanosomes; (e) light part of secondaries (sample C) preserving grey mouldic eumelanosomes; (f) tail feathers (sample 2_3) preserving black eumelanosomes; (g) crural feathers (sample 2_4) preserving grey eumelanosomes; (h) submalar feathers (sample G) preserving phaeomelanosomes. Yellow dots indicate location of each sample.

Abstract:
"We report on an exceptional specimen of Eoconfuciusornis preserving rare soft-tissue traces of the ovary and wing. Ovarian follicles preserve a greater hierarchy than observed in Jeholornis and enantiornithines, suggesting confuciusornithiforms evolved higher rates of yolk deposition in parallel with the neornithine lineage. The preserved soft tissues of the wing indicate the presence of a propatagium and postpatagium, whereas an alular patagium is absent. Preserved remnants of the internal support network of the propatagium bear remarkable similarity to that of living birds. Soft tissue suggests the confuciusornithiform propatagium could maintain a cambered profile and generate lift. The feathers of the wing preserve remnants of their original patterning; however, this is not strongly reflected by observable differences under scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The tail plumage lacks elongate rectrices, suggesting that the earliest known confuciusornithiforms were sexually dimorphic in their plumage."

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