First feather fossil ever found was linked to ‘wrong bird’ for 150 YEARS but really belongs to mystery dinosaur
The feather is thought to be 150million years old
THE FIRST feather fossil ever found belongs to a mystery dinosaur unknown to scientists.
Discovered in Germany in 1861, boffins had thought that the relic came from the iconic Archaeopteryx – a winged beast with feathers like a bird but teeth like a reptile that is believed to be the "missing link" between dinosaurs and avians.
But nearly a century and a half after its discovery, new images show the 150million-year-old fossil didn't belong to to an Archaeopteryx after all.
Instead, a feathered dinosaur probably dropped it, though experts have no idea what species it came from.
Researchers used a technique called Laser-Stimulated Fluorescence (LSF) imaging to study the fossil.
They were looking for a quill described in 1862 by the German bone hunters who found it but that is missing today.
Their detailed images finally revealed the quill, but also showed that the feather is quite different to most Archaeopteryx plumage.
It lacks characteristics of a classic bird feather, suggesting it was not from a bird but from a feathered reptile.
The fact that it even exists means there is probably a bigger variety of feathered dinosaurs than scientists first thought.
"It is amazing that this new technique allows us to resolve the 150-year-old mystery of the missing quill," said study author Dr Daniela Schwarz, a curator at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin.
Her colleague Tom Kaye added: "The success of the LSF technique here is sure to lead to more discoveries and applications in other fields. But, you’ll have to wait and see what we find next!" added Tom Kaye, the study’s lead author.
The research was published in
The finding is one of many major recent discoveries about the age of the dinosaurs.
A dino "treasure trove" featuring footprints half a metre wide was found in Sussex last year.
It followed the discovery of a "Jurassic giant" that weighed 12 tonnes and was once Earth's largest land animal/
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