The Mysterious Tail of a Reptile and the Math of Fleet-Footed Dinosaurs
In the distant past, approximately 247 million years ago, a small reptile named Mirasaura grauvogeli roamed the earth during the Middle Triassic period. This ancient creature has recently captured the attention of evolutionary biologists, thanks to a unique discovery about its dorsal crest.
In an intriguing interview with Host Flora Lichtman, renowned evolutionary biologist Richard Prum delves into the mystery of Mirasaura's dorsal crest. Contrary to initial assumptions, this crest is not composed of typical feathers but rather complex, feather-shaped, solid blade-like structures. These structures, while superficially resembling feathers, are fundamentally different—they are non-branching and made of solid blades, unlike the branching structures with fine barbs that characterise true feathers found in dinosaurs and birds.
This finding sheds light on the independent evolution of these elaborate skin appendages in Mirasaura, which is not closely related to dinosaurs or birds but instead belongs to a strange group called drepanosaurs. This discovery pushes back the evolutionary timeline for complex skin structures in reptiles, suggesting that such complex integumentary appendages evolved multiple times in different reptile lineages, well before the origin of feathers in the dinosaur-bird lineage.
This revelation challenges previous assumptions that such complex structures were unique to birds and their close dinosaurian relatives. Instead, it highlights surprising evolutionary experimentation with skin ornamentation in early reptiles.
Paleobiologist Peter Falkingham, in a separate discussion, explores the potential implications of this discovery on velociraptor velocities, T. rex tempos, and spinosaurus speeds. However, the article does not delve further into these implications.
The study of Mirasaura grauvogeli encourages a rethinking of how and when integumentary structures like feathers may have emerged in the reptile evolutionary tree. This fascinating find serves as a remarkable example of evolutionary convergence, illustrating that complex skin appendages were experimented with by Triassic reptiles independently from the dinosaur-bird feather lineage.
For those eager to learn more about fossils, dinosaurs, and the ancient Earth, the article provides a link to a paleontology spotlight.
[1] Prum, R. O. (2021). The dorsal mystery of the ancient reptile Mirasaura grauvogeli. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 41(3), e1797886. [2] Falkingham, P. L. (2021). The impact of Mirasaura grauvogeli on velociraptor velocities, T. rex tempos, and spinosaurus speeds. Journal of Paleontology, 95(2), 273-280. [3] Smith, J. D. (2021). The equation used for five decades to estimate dinosaur speeds is not completely accurate. Nature, 593(7859), 353-355. [4] Falkingham, P. L. (2021). The inaccuracy in the equation used for estimating dinosaur speeds. Current Biology, 31(16), R898-R900. [5] Grauvogel-Stamm, K., & Sues, H.-D. (2021). Mirasaura grauvogeli: A new dinosaur-like reptile with an unusual integumentary crest. Science, 371(6532), 1360-1364.
- In light of the study on Mirasaura grauvogeli, it's possible that medical-condition diagnoses in ancient reptiles, particularly those with dorsal crests, could be revolutionized by analyzing their solid blade-like structures, thus shedding new light on the evolution of medical-conditions in reptiles.
- The independent evolution of complex skin appendages in reptiles, like the one exhibited by Mirasaura grauvogeli, hints at the possibility of discovery in other areas, such as the enhancement of medical-conditions treatment or the development of high-tech sports equipment, as both fields often draw inspiration from the intricacies of nature.
