New species from the Cretaceous bears longest, best-preserved examples of extinct type of tail feather (IMAGE)

PLOS

New species from the Cretaceous bears longest, best-preserved examples of extinct type of tail feather

Caption

Subtle structural differences in distal portions of rectrices. A-C, examples of rectrices (rump covert in Pavo) which show distal enfeeblement (exaggerated tapering or termination) of the rachis within ornaments, while D-F shows examples of rectrices with the rachis more continuous throughout the distal ornaments. Arrows indicate where in the ornament the rachis terminates. A) Plumadraco, B) Pavo cristatus (FMNH 21426, sexually-dimorphic), C) Prioniturus discurus (FMNH 11554, sexually-dimorphic), D) Orienantius ([40]; Elsevier, Cretaceous Research), E), Momotus motmota (FMNH 299790, monomorphic), F) Dicrurus paradiseus (FMNH 212154, monomorphic). All scale bars equal 10 mm. 

Credit

Clark et al., 2026, PLOS One, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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Credit must be given to the creator.

License

CC BY

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