SCI/TECH: Feathered Basal Tyrannosaurs!, page 1

Not flight feathers of course, but rather 'filamentous prot-feathers', which are feathers irregardless of the qualification. They are also branched. The Organism if called Dilong paradoxus meaning Surprising Imperial Dragon. Its from the Yixian of China in western Liaoning, a formation and area where lots of interesting feathered specimins have been comming from. But this is certainly the first tyrannosaur.

www.nature.com
"Dilong is an exciting find because it's so complete," says palaeontologist Thomas Holtz of the University of Maryland in College Park, "and the feathers are the icing on the cake."

Holtz hopes that the new evidence will convince the scientific community that feathers evolved on dinosaurs long before the appearance of birds. Until now, some palaeontologists have been dubious that feathered tyrannosauroids existed.

The jackal-sized Dilong was far smaller than T. rex, which roamed the Earth some 65 million years later. But Dilong shares many of its characteristics.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

This is also the earliest definite tyrannosaurid. Usually they are found in North America, but this is of course from asia (part of the larger prehistoric continent called "gondwana land" at the time). This in itself is interseting, as gondwanaland is often posited as being the homeland of many diversified animal lineages. Quickly, that has to do with having a larger area than other continents and thus more organisms and thus more oppurtunity to produce extremely vigourous and successful types.
This find is especially interesting because of the feathers. It had been thought that tyrannosaurs should be nested (poor pun purposeful; assinine alliteration also) in the larger branch of bird like organisms. Lack of feathers was a problem, as were other aspects of the anatomy. Tyrannosaurs, importantly, show a major reduction of the arms. This organism has very long proportions for its arms, and of course the feathers. This means that the reduction in arms and loss of feathers are -novel- traits of tyrannosaurs.

Realistically, it looks like the feathered 'dino-fuzz' wearing creatures are much more widespread than some had anticipated.

Related News Links:
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www.geol.umd.edu
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