Scylla Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 150 mya a sudden burst of color. http://news.discovery.com/animals/dinosaurs/color-explosion-led-to-fabulous-dinos-150-m-years-ago-140212.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Today, outside the tropics, blue and green plumage is not due to pigment, but is structural (refraction, not reflection)*. Reds and yellows are due to pigments, the result of sequestering difficult-to-metabolize excess dietary carotenoids in the plumage. I wonder whether the presence of either situation in fossil feathers could be detected? *There is no blue pigment in a blue jay, or a blue bird! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Actually, the "structural" blue color comes from the structure of melanosomes. So a dark pigment can give the illusion of blue color. I think they studied that as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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