BACKGROUND The interdisciplinary field of animal coloration is growing rapidly, spanning
questions about the diverse ways that animals use pigments and structures to generate …

Animal camouflage has long been used to illustrate the power of natural selection, and
provides an excellent testbed for investigating the trade‐offs affecting the adaptive value of …

Melanins are widespread pigments in vertebrates, with important roles in visual signaling,
UV protection, and homeostasis. Fossil evidence of melanin and melanin-bearing …

The Extended Specimen highlights the research potential for ornithological specimens, and
is meant to encourage ornithologists poised to initiate a renaissance in collections-based …

Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to achieve true flapping flight, but in the absence of
living representatives, many questions concerning their biology and lifestyle remain …

Exceptionally preserved fossils are the product of complex interplays of biological and
geological processes including burial, autolysis and microbial decay, authigenic …

Abstract The Jehol Biota is an Early Cretaceous terrestrial fossil assemblage of paramount
significance, and its core distribution areas are western Liaoning, northern Hebei, and …

Predator-prey dynamics are an important evolutionary driver of escalating predation mode
and efficiency, and commensurate responses of prey [1–3]. Among these strategies …

Feathers have long been regarded as the innovation that drove the success of birds.
However, feathers have been reported from close dinosaurian relatives of birds, and now …

Modern birds are typified by the presence of feathers, complex evolutionary innovations that
were already widespread in the group of theropod dinosaurs (Maniraptoriformes) that …