C. R. Palevol 3 (2004) 99–118
Concise Review Paper
Body plumage in Archaeopteryx: a review,
and new evidence from the Berlin specimen
Per Christiansen a,*, Niels Bonde b
a
Department of Vertebrates, Zoological Museum, Universitetsparken 15, 2100 København Ø, Denmark
b
Division of Palaeontology, Geological Institute, Øster Voldgade 10, 1350 København K, Denmark
Received 6 August 2003; accepted 15 December 2003
Written on invitation of the Editorial Board
Abstract
The feathers of Archaeopteryx have been known for over 140 years, are the most important reason for its fame and avian
status. Previous analyses have almost unanimously focused on the remiges and rectrices. Faint remains of what appears to be
body contour feathers are, however, present in the Berlin specimen along the back, around the legs, and possibly anterior to the
basal part of the neck. Although noted by numerous previous authors every reference to these feathers was anecdotal. Recent
claims that body feathers were once present but were mechanically removed appear unsubstantiated. Rather, the Berlin
Archaeopteryx has to this day the same regions more or less intact as depicted on early drawings. The present study reveals that
the impressions are very different from preparation scratches, and are consistent with body feathers. The counterslab corroborates this, and in several cases both raches and barbs can be made out. The preserved body feathers of the back and the legs
evidently were considerably smaller than the flight feathers, and clearly pennaceous in nature. The state of preservation does not,
however, permit secure inferences that these body feathers necessarily resembled body contour feathers on most extant volant
birds, nor that such feathers were distributed all over the body, although this is one possible scenario. Alternatively, the feathers
on the back and legs could have resembled more simple contour feathers with open vanes, present in, for instance, ratites. Faint
impressions at the base of the neck may even represent ‘hair-like proto-feathers’, and if so have been generated from some sort
of ‘proto-apteria’, whereas the longer feathers with vanes on back and legs grew from ‘proto-pterylae’, corresponding to those
areas with the longest neoptiles (embryonic downs), the first feathers to appear in embryos of several modern birds. To cite this
article: P. Christiansen, N. Bonde, C. R. Palevol 3 (2004).
© 2004 Académie des sciences. Publié par Elsevier SAS. Tous droits réservés.
Résumé
Plumage sur le corps de l’Archæopteryx : une revue et nouvelles indications fournies par le spécimen de Berlin. Les
plumes d’Archaeopteryx sont connues depuis 140 ans, la raison la plus importante en étant le renom et le statut d’oiseau de cet
animal. Les analyses préalables se sont presque toujours unanimement concentrées sur les rémiges et les rectrices. Des restes
flous de ce qui apparaît comme étant des plumes dessinant le contour du corps sont néanmoins présentes, dans l’échantillon de
Berlin, le long du dos, autour des pattes et probablement antérieurement à la partie basale du cou. Bien qu’étant notée par de
nombreux auteurs précurseurs, toute référence à ces plumes était anecdotique. De récentes hypothèses selon lesquelles les
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: p2christiansen@zmuc.ku.dk (P. Christiansen).
© 2004 Académie des sciences. Publié par Elsevier SAS. Tous droits réservés.
doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2003.12.001
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P. Christiansen, N. Bonde / C. R. Palevol 3 (2004) 99–118
plumes du corps avaient été autrefois présentes mais enlevées mécaniquement apparaissent dénuées de fondement.
L’Archaeopteryx de Berlin a, à ce jour, ces mêmes zones plus au moins intactes, comme le représentent les premiers dessins. La
présente étude révèle que les impressions sont très différentes des rayures dues à la préparation et sont compatibles avec des plumes
de corps. La contre-plaque corrobore ceci et, dans certains cas, des barbes et des axes de plume peuvent être distingués. Les plumes
de corps préservées sur le dos et les pattes sont à l’évidence considérablement plus petites que les plumes de vol et nettement
pennées. L’état de préservation ne permet cependant, ni d’avoir l’assurance que ces plumes de corps ressemblent nécessairement
aux plumes des contours du corps sur la plupart des oiseaux volants actuels, ni que de telles plumes soient réparties sur tout le corps,
bien que ce soit un scénario possible. Alternativement, les plumes sur le dos et les pattes peuvent avoir ressemblé à des plumes plus
simples du contour du corps avec des barbes ouvertes, comme on en observe, par exemple, chez les ratites. Des impressions floues
à la base du cou peuvent même représenter des proto-plumes de type poil et, si c’est le cas, être issues d’une sorte de
« proto-aptères », tandis que les plus longues plumes avec barbes, sur le dos et les pattes, se développent à partir de
« proto-ptérylre » correspondant à ces zones à longues néoptiles (duvet embryonnaire), les premières plumes qui apparaissent chez
les embryons de certains oiseaux modernes. To cite this article: P. Christiansen, N. Bonde, C. R. Palevol 3 (2004).
© 2004 Académie des sciences. Publié par Elsevier SAS. Tous droits réservés.
1. Introduction
Since its discovery in 1860 ([74] disregarding von
Schlotheim’s [108] reference to feathered fossils from
the Jurassic Limestone of Pappenheim and Solnhofen),
the Late Jurassic Urvogel Archaeopteryx (Figs. 1 and
2) has been the pivotal point in all subsequent debates
on avian origins and the origins of feathers and flight.
Over 100 years after its discovery it stood nearly alone
as a very archaic avialan (sensu [43]) since the other
known Mesozoic birds were clearly much more advanced and thus of little relevance to the above questions, despite the retention of several plesiomorphic
traits, such as toothed jaws (e.g., [46,67,68,70]).
Recently, this has changed dramatically and in the
1990s the number of known archaic avialans has virtually exploded [e.g. 16–19,56,57,92,152]. Initial claims
that the Chinese Confuciusornis was as ancient as
Archaeopteryx [58] have subsequently been refuted,
and the age of the Chinese Liaoning beds is now
considered Early Cretaceous [112,121] (see also
[113]). This is corroborated by the somewhat more
advanced anatomy of Confuciusornis and Chanchengornis, notably the presence of a pygostyle and absence of teeth in these birds [148]. To this day Archaeopteryx has remained the earliest and most primitive
avialan, but see [54,55].
A total of seven skeletal specimens of Archaeopteryx are known (a fragmentary and, as yet, unofficial
eighth specimen appears to have been discovered recently [71,133], but the third, the privately owned
Maxberg specimen [51], has been missing since the
death of its owner Eduard Opitsch in 1991. Over the
decades many studies have been made of the plumage
of Archaeopteryx, mainly the Berlin specimen. These
have nearly all focused on the well preserved remiges
and rectrices in order to establish to which degree these
Fig. 1. The Berlin Archaeopteryx, main slab (‘Museum für Naturkunde’, Berlin). Numbers refer to the regions shown in detail in
Figs. 5–7 and 10. Scale bar equals 5 cm.
Fig. 1 L’Archaeopteryx de Berlin, dalle principale (Museum für
Naturkunde, Berlin). Les numéros renvoient aux zones étudiées en
détail sur les Figs. 5–7 et 10. Barre d’échelle = 5 cm.
P. Christiansen, N. Bonde / C. R. Palevol 3 (2004) 99–118
Fig. 2. The counterslab of the Berlin specimen of Archaeopteryx
(Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin). Number refers to the region
shown in detail in Fig. 8. Scale bar equals 5 cm.
Fig. 2 Contre-plaque du spécimen d’Archaeopteryx de Berlin (Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin). Le chiffre se rapporte à la zone
représentée en détail sur la Fig. 8. Barre d’échelle = 5 cm.
resemble flight feathers in extant birds and their bearing on the aerial capabilities of Archaeopteryx, the
evolution of the avian tail, the number of primaries,
secondaries and coverts, the nature of flight feather
preservation or the origins of feathers per se
[5,6,13,30,35,37,41,42,47,50,52,65,76,77,88,89,94,98,
104,106,111,114–119,144]. Some have even had to
refute naïve and obviously absurd claims of forgery
[14].
Much less attention has been given to what appears
to be faint impressions of body contour feathers around
the legs, back and neck in the Berlin specimen
(Figs. 1 and 3). Impressions of remiges and rectrices
are prominent in the London, Berlin and Maxberg
specimens but are present on all seven skeletal specimens, although considerably less distinct in the Teyler
[85], the sixth from Solnhofen, Wellnhoferia grandis
[31,128,129], the seventh skeleton, A. bavarica
([130,133] and pers. obs.), and the Eichstätt ([127] and
101
Fig. 3. The very first drawing ever made of the Berlin specimen of
Archaeopteryx, made in 1878–1879. Note how the unknown illustrator was evidently unambiguous in considering the faint impressions
along the back, the throat area and around the legs to be feathers,
albeit more hair-like than is probably the case. The rectrices are,
however, also made much more hair-like than they really are. From
Ostrom [89].
Fig. 3. Le tout premier dessin du spécimen de Berlin, réalisé en
1878–1879. Noter combien le dessinateur non averti a été sans
équivoque, en considérant que les impressions floues le long du dos,
de la région de la gorge et autour des pattes étaient des plumes,
quoique plus semblables à des poils que ce n’était probablement le
cas. Les rectrices sont néanmoins aussi plus proches de poils qu’elles
ne l’étaient réellement. D’après Ostrom [89].
pers. obs.) specimens. Historically, although there has
been some doubt about the nature of these body feather
impressions, they appear not to have caused much
controversy; some have simply assumed that they were
feathers and others that they were not. With the exception of [26] and in part [30,51], most authors have not
detailed their reasons for noting and thus accepting, or
ignoring (and dismissing?) the feathery origin of these
impressions. Even [143], who assessed the mass of the
body feathers (Table 1, p. 183), did not discuss their
possible morphology or why he accepted their presence, seemingly at face value.
Scholars studying the feathers in Archaeopteryx
have possibly failed to recognize the impressions along
the legs as body feathers, because the modern looking
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P. Christiansen, N. Bonde / C. R. Palevol 3 (2004) 99–118
flight feathers would suggest that the former would
also be modern in appearance, or have simply ignored
them. In part this is, however, clearly due to their much
poorer state of preservation than the remiges and rectrices, despite the latter being attached to a distinctly
non-avian tail (but see [116 (pl. 1)]). The remiges and
rectrices are described as nearly identical to modern
flight feathers (e.g. [37,106]); [114], however, criticised the latter analysis and [97] in turn criticised their
analysis, while [65] assumed that the Archaeopteryx
remiges are distinctly different from those of extant
birds). It would appear only natural that body contour
feathers should also be fairly modern in appearance,
and statements such as ‘the whole plumage has a very
modern aspect’ [34 (p. 311), 69 (p. 179)] are common
in the literature [12,47,64,94,102,111,122,131,145].
The poor state of preservation combined with the
possibly not so modern morphology of some of these
purported body feathers could make it reasonable to
dismiss the impressions as either diagenetic or even
artificial. A diagenetic origin can probably be ruled
out, since the extensive dendrites present on the Eichstätt specimen are extremely different from the presumed remains of body plumage in the Berlin specimen. Significantly, however, some authors consider the
current state of the Berlin Archaeopteryx impoverished, so that body contour feathers used to be present
but have subsequently been mechanically removed [36
(pp. 29, 31, 113, also 1999 edition)]. Thus, the ‘body
feathers’ currently visible should merely be preparation marks.
2. Earlier discussions of the body feathers
Previously, several authors have noted the presence
of body feathers in Archaeopteryx (London specimen
[90]; Berlin specimen [4,26,30,33,49,102]; Archaeopteryx in general [1 (p. 495), 119, 143 (e.g., p. 183)]) –
although [1] and [143] undoubtedly referred to the
Berlin specimen) –; Maxberg specimen [51,107]).
What appears in early drawings to represent faint impressions of feathers along the lower part of the back
has usually been only casually discussed, for instance
by [26 (p. 157), 30 (pp. 37–38)]: “the tail coverts form
a continuous series with the body feathers on the back”
[30 (pp. 37–38)]. It is unclear if the remark by Ostrom
[86 (p. 118)] referred to the presumed body plumage or
the flight feathers. The inference of body feathers in the
London specimen is incorrect ([30] and pers. obs.), and
the Maxberg specimen is missing. The plumages of the
other specimens are much more poorly preserved,
leaving only the Berlin specimen relevant for study.
In the original description of the Berlin Archaeopteryx, Dames [26 (pp. 39–42)] provided the most detailed account of its possible body feathers. He described the feathers around the base of the neck and of
the tibia, the latter of which he thought were somewhat
ellipsoid in outline and more simple and soft than the
rectrices. Heller [51] discussed the feathers on the legs
in comparison with corresponding ones in the Maxberg
specimen, which are symmetrical, but more oval than
those of the Berlin specimen. Feduccia [36 (p. 113)]
stated that the latter were “typical contour feathers”.
Gauthier and de Queiroz [44 (p. 13)] even thought that
the legs feathers in the Berlin Archaeopteryx had open
vanes, i.e. lacking hamuli, although they offered no
evidence for this claim. It does, however, appear to be
correct, as noted below. Elzanowski [32] also accepted
the feathers on the lower leg as “contour feathers”, but
did not describe them.
There is also indirect information in the innumerable illustrations made of Archaeopteryx over the
years, since they presumable reflect the current opinion
of the distribution and morphology of its plumage.
Many early authors illustrated Archaeopteryx with
feathered epipodials (e.g., Fig. 3, [44 (frontispiece and
Figs. 2, 50, 64: pp. 92–93), 91 (Figs. 3, 102, 105]. This
is similar to some more modern reconstructions (e.g.,
Hayward in [30], Freund in [94], Sibbick in [82],
Sovak in [23 (pp. 99, 111)], [39], Nichols’ in [132],
Desselberger in [32], Rey in [21 (front cover)], and in
[45]. However, the majority of reconstructions depict
Archaeopteryx with short feathers on the legs (e.g.,
Charles Knight in his classical ‘murals’, see e.g. [96],
Sibbick in [75,83,132], Bakker [2,3], Thulborn and
Hamley [123], Paul in [95,97]. Feduccia [36] illustrated Archaeopteryx with a sort of narrow “feather
trousers”(but also with a ‘tuft’ on its head, for which
there is no evidence) A detailed and critical review of
earlier attempts to reconstruct Archaeopteryx is given
by Stephan [119], but ends (Fig. 107) with an illustration lacking any indication of longer feathers on the
lower legs, and throughout his otherwise very detailed
book, these feathers are not described, only mentioned
once (p. 68).
P. Christiansen, N. Bonde / C. R. Palevol 3 (2004) 99–118
Short leg feathers are frequently attributed to the
hypothetical reconstructions of a ‘proavian’ stage,
(e.g., [87,122]), whereas Heilmann [48, 49 (Figs. 139,
142)] endowed his ‘Proavis’ with a sort of short
“feather trousers”, a single line of slightly longer feathers posterior to the femora, and more narrow feathers
on both sides of the tibiae, the former equivalent to the
so-called “pelvic or femoral wing” (pp. 195–196) inspired by the Tetrapteryx idea of Beebe [4]. Heilmann’s feather frills along the neck and body appear
unsubstantiated both in fossils and in embryology, but
seem inspired by the lateral ‘skin-folds’ of the gliding
gecko (Fig. 141). His “Proavis” resemble that of [115].
Pycraft’s [103] Proavis had short arms, emerging
remiges, and scaly legs, and he depicted Archaeopteryx with longer “feather trousers” on the lower legs.
Steiner’s [115] lizard-like Proavis (nearly identical
picture in Feduccia [36 (p. 92)], with small leg-scales
is similar to Heilmann’s, but the distally narrow, tapering tail-fan, also seen in Pycraft [103], is contrary to
current fossil evidence of fan-like rectrices in avialean
outgroups, as noted below. The rectrices appear to
evolve from the broader distal to the proximally narrower part of the tail, as predicted in Tarsitano’s [122]
parachuting to gliding proavian stages. All of these
glider models are, however, erroneous in having rather
long tertiaries, which is unsubstantiated both from fossils [40,118], and nearly all recent and embryonic
birds. This also applies to Bakker’s [2], Thulborn &
Hamley’s [123] and Paul’s [97 (Fig. 9.1)] Archaeopteryx models. A more convincing ‘Proavis’ was reconstructed by Paul [97] as a stem-Paraves (sensu [110]),
Based on current fossil evidence, it would appear that a
stem-avialean ‘Proavis’ would have had much longer
feathers on the hind legs, possibly even ‘wing-like’ (cf.
[123,142]).
3. Taxonomy
Although the Berlin specimen, some years after its
description, was named Archaeopteryx siemensis [27],
and [98] referred it to Archaeornis, we here, despite the
slight (10–15 %) size differences, consider it conspecific with the London specimen, Archaeopteryx lithographica von Meyer 1861 ([74]; assuming that this is
the proper name for the London skeleton – Opinion
1070 [84]; contra [32], the species under consideration
103
here). The history behind von Meyer’s name can be
found in [30,134].
From a taxonomic viewpoint it is worth noting that
the taxon Archaeopteryx, as normally perceived, is
probably not a monophyletic group, but rather encompasses several species, perhaps even genera, whose
exact interrelationships are presently unknown [9].
Apart from Archaeopteryx lithographica, the most
significant taxa suggested for other specimens are Jurapteryx recurva (Eichstätt specimen, [59]), Archaeopteryx bavarica (the 7th specimen, [130]), and the
hitherto largest known specimen, the 6th or Solnhofen
specimen [129] has recently been selected as type
specimen of a new genus and species, Wellnhoferia
grandis [31,32]. Both the interrelationships of these
taxa, and the relationship to later avialeans are unclear,
but it is clear that the taxon Archaeopteryx sensu lato
(for all the specimens from the Lithographic limestone) is a so-called ‘mixotaxon’, not necessarily
monophyletic [9] (despite [32]).
Thus, it follows that these specimens need not have
been uniform in ecology and soft tissue anatomy. This
has implications for inferences of plumage, because
what is present in the Berlin specimen needs not have
been similar in all species.
4. The phylogenetic bracket of body plumage
Witmer [137], in his phylogenetic bracket methodology, has argued in detail how to infer the presence of
soft tissue structures in fossils in a cladistic framework
by reference to the living sistergroup and their combined living outgroup. The broader, general conditions
and arguments for estimating such unknown features
(or as the case were, the palaeoecology) on a wellknown phylogenetic background were earlier outlined
by Bonde [8]. This requires that soft tissue inferences
pass both the test of morphological similarity and phylogenetic congruence.
For every species of Archaeopteryx** (see [9] and
Elzanowski’s ‘Archaeopterygidae’ [32]) the recent sistergroup is Aves and the outgroup Crocodylia, making
it impossible to infer whether the fossils had feathers or
not, as these do not usually leave distinct osteological
signs, with the exception of quill nodes or a pygostyle.
However, in the present case fossil preservation allows
prediction with certainty that at least some and prob-
P. Christiansen, N. Bonde / C. R. Palevol 3 (2004) 99–118
104
Sinosauropteryx [1,2?,3?]
Caudipteryx [1,2?,3,4]
1
Beipiaosaurus [1,2?]
1,2,3,4
Sinornithosaurus [2,5]
Microraptor [3,5,6]
5, 6
?
Protarchaeopteryx [3,4,5?]
Archaeopteryx [1 or 2?,3,6]
Confuciusornis [1?,2?,3,6]
Neornithes [3,4,5,6]
Fig. 4. Diagram of relationships of the hitherto published non-avian
theropods from Liaoning, northeastern China, along with basal avialans Archaeopteryx and Confuciusornis. The numbers succeeding
the taxon names refer to various stages of plumage evolution, and the
italic numbers at the nodes indicate the most parsimonious condition. Diagram after Holtz [54] and Ji et al. [61]: 1, simple, superficially hair-like body feathers; 2, more complex, although still superficially hair-like body feathers (see Xu et al. [141]); 3, pennaceous
feathers on arms and/or tail; 4, plumulaceous feathers; 5, pennaceous
body contour feathers; 6, flight feathers with asymmetrical, closed
vexillae (i.e. hamuli).
Fig. 4. Diagramme montrant la relation entre les Théropodes non
aviens publiés jusqu’à présent, en provenance de Liaoning, Nord-Est
de la Chine, avec Archaeopteryx et Confuciusornis. Les chiffres
suivant les taxons correspondent à différentes étapes de l’évolution
du plumage et les nombres en italiques, aux nœuds, indiquent la
condition la plus parcimonieuse. Diagramme selon Holtz [54] et Ji et
al. [61] : 1, plumes de corps simples, superficiellement semblables à
des poils; 2, plumes plus complexes, bien qu’encore semblables
superficiellement à des poils (voir Xu et al. [141]) ; 3, plumes
pennées sur les pattes avant et/ou la queue ; 4, plumes à plumules ; 5,
plumes pennées au contour du corps ; 6, plumes de vol asymétriques,
à vexilles fermées (i.e. hamuli).
ably all specimens had feathers in the form of remiges
and rectrices. This, however, implies neither the unquestionable presence of body plumage (see, e.g., Bakker [2 (p. 69)]), nor the resemblance of these, if
present, to those of modern birds. Only fossil discoveries in an outgroup position to birds plus Archaeopteryx (= Avialae) with preserved body feathers would
make such inferences possible.
Phylogenetic analyses have demonstrated with
overwhelming certainty (Fig. 4) that Avialae is the
sistergroup of advanced theropod dinosaurs, most often dromaeosaurs (the two groups combined in
Paraves, sensu Sereno [110]). Since the mid 1990s,
theropods have emerged from Early Cretaceous beds
of Liaoning, northeastern China, with primitive, super-
ficially hair-like feathers preserved on their bodies
[15,62,138,139], and some with down-like structures
([93] and NB’s pers. obs.) and even with large remiges
and rectrices [16,61,62,78,81,150,151], despite being
non-Avialan theropods [21,24,54,55,61,79,80,110,
120].
The hair-like body feathers are clearly different
from mammalian hair [15,25,62] and probably correspond to early evolutionary stages of ‘proto-feathers’
[10,141] (see also Prum [100]). Thus, they would be
equivalent to ‘cryptoptiles’ [10], a term used by neornithologists (e.g., [22,124]) for a hypothetical early
stage of feather evolution. Curiously, feathered theropod dinosaurs were not only foretold, but also outright
advocated by Lowe [65], who also considered Archaeopteryx simply a feathered, arboreal dinosaur unrelated to birds!
A very small dromaeosaurid has structures preserved behind the hind legs that resemble elongate
contour feathers [141], and more recently described
dromaeosaurids have very large, distinctly pennaceous
feathers along the forelimbs, hind limbs and tail [45,
101, 81 (Cryptovolans), 142 (Microraptor)]. Feather
morphology, especially the asymmetrical remiges, in
these forms suggest gliding or even flying abilities,
although more analyses are required to firmly establish
this [91]. Microraptor [142] also appears to possess
not only Archaeopteryx-like wings, but apparently distinct ‘hind limb wings’, providing some credibility to
Beebe’s [4] Tetrapteryx hypothesis [10,142].
To make a more definite statement about possible
hind limb wings in stem-avialeans, i.e. the direct forerunners of birds, we need information from wellpreserved feathered hind limbs of fossils in sistergroup
position to Paraves, as it cannot be ruled out that ‘four
wings’ might be an apomorphy of primitive dromaeosaurs [101]. To date fossils in the desired position are
oviraptorosaurs, and among these Caudipteryx seem to
have short feathers on the lower legs and nothing on the
feet ([61,149,150] and NB’s pers. obs.]. The inference
for the stem-bird would be absence of ‘hind limb
wings’, unless Archaeopteryx does, in fact, show
something else (below). Studying other early birds
with plumage (partly) preserved (like Confuciusornis
[20]) is another possibility to establish a ‘phylogenetic
bracket’ of extinct animals around the origin of avialans. But the fact that these early birds from China
[57] seem to exhibit no feathers on the feet and only
P. Christiansen, N. Bonde / C. R. Palevol 3 (2004) 99–118
Fig. 5. Feathers on the back (preparation at the skull roof seen above
them). Main slab. Abbreviations: Il, ilium; Pr, preparation ; S, skull.
Arrows denote feather rachides. Beebe [4], among others, originally
referred to these feathers as the ‘femoral wing’, which supposedly
had drifted away from the femur, and settled along the back.
Fig. 5. Plumes sur le dos (préparation à la voûte crânienne, vue de
dessus). Dalle principale. Abréviations : II, illium ; Pr, préparation ;
S, crâne. Les flèches indiquent les axes des plumes. Beebe [4], parmi
d’autres, se réfère, à l’origine, à ces plumes en tant qu’« aile fémorale », qui est supposée s’être éloignée du fémur et déposée le long
du dos.
rather short ones on the lower legs (e.g., [20,146]), i.e.
‘modern’ features like most living Aves, does tend to
support the deduction above: no Tetrapteryx stage in
the direct lineage towards modern birds (contra [142],
see also [91]).
Many confuciusornithid birds from these Chinese
deposits have the plumage partly preserved, often
showing very long and narrow, asymmetrical primaries, but the rest of the plumage is often poorly preserved, mainly as a dark ‘halo’ round the neck, body
and wings ([20,60,147] and pers. obs. on a dozen
specimens). Even secondaries are difficult to distinguish, and there is no evidence of tertiaries, as shown in
[97 (Fig. 6.2)]. The body feathers appear superficially
rather similar to the ‘hair-like feathers present on many
of the non-avialan theropods, or at least more simple
than modern pennaceous body contour feathers, and
this appears also to be the case with early enantiornithine birds, such as like Longipteryx [146], although
the early ornithurine Archaeovolans is said to have
contour feathers on the neck [16,57].
Thus, the body feathers of Archaeopteryx may not
have been quite as modern as the remiges and rectrices
could suggest, and as illustrated in most reconstructions, including [48,49]. They could have been simpler
105
than in most modern birds, except perhaps flightless
ratites such as Apteryx and Casuarius, with less developed and simpler vexillae (probably a secondary reversal). Because detailed studies of the variably preserved
plumages of the Chinese feathered birds are still wanting (but see [16,93,145,147]), it does not follow that
neither their body feathers nor those of Archaeopteryx
were very different from modern contour feathers,
especially as dromaeosaurs had some with a superficially rather modern appearance [81,141]. But it cannot be ruled out that the early birds had body plumage
more like the simple body covering of most nonavialan theropods, that is unbranched ‘hair-like
protofeathers’ [15,93,138,139], albeit sometimes with
a little branching [16,25] and then called ‘down-like’ –
and definite down-like structures were described in e.g.
Protarchaeopteryx [93] and Scansoriopteryx [16] and
are in Caudipteryx (NB’s pers. obs.).
5. The history of preparation of the Berlin
specimen
The history of the preparation of the Berlin specimen can roughly be followed from figures in [26 (Pl.
15, drawing), 30 (photo), 49 (Fig. 2, drawing), 87
(photo), 97 (recent photos from the late 1990s), 119
(Figs. 12–13)], and the photos presented in this study,
taken in 2002. What probably represents the first drawing of the Berlin Archaeopteryx from 1879 (Fig. 3)
clearly illustrates the specimen with feathers around
the legs, back and neck. Feduccia [36 (1999 edition,
pp. 29 and 113)] argues that this early drawing shows
true body feathers, which were subsequently removed
during the ongoing preparation of the specimen, and
the ‘feathers’ present on the slab today are thus merely
preparation marks. These ‘feathers’ appear more slender and morphologically simpler than the remiges and
rectrices. This is in contrast to the remains of the
purported ‘feather trousers’ of the Maxberg specimen,
which Heller [51 (pls. 5 and 15), 107 (Fig. 1b)] illustrates as near-typical contour feathers, i.e. pennaceous,
presumably sempiplume feathers.
Dames’ [26] plate shows that in his day almost
nothing was exposed of the pelvis, and little of the left
femur, knee and proximal metatarsus. Ribs and gastralia were visible immediately in front of the right femur,
but no feathers are seen in that area, apart from remiges
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P. Christiansen, N. Bonde / C. R. Palevol 3 (2004) 99–118
from the elbow just anterior to the right knee. Posterior
to the knee is an irregular lump of matrix, and the
striations (described below) behind the right tibia reach
the left knee region. Posterior to the left femur is a large
patch of faint, slightly curved and near parallel striations, extending away from the femoral shaft at a near
perpendicular angle. This is less evident in [49], but
rather evident in all the photos by [88,97,119] and the
new photos presented here. Purported feathers along
the posterior part of the back are evident in [26], but
very faint in Heilmann’s [49] drawing. As noted below,
they are clearly body feathers.
The left femur and knee, as well as ischium and
pubis, had been disclosed, and the area behind the right
knee had been evened out by preparation before Heilmann [49] made his drawing (about 1924). His illustration shows an area with very thin, sub-parallel, and
very tightly set striations (probably preparation
marks), nearly perpendicular to the distal femur. These
striae seem to have vanished after a preparation done
prior to the 1950s, as seen in de Beer [30] (note the
illumination from opposite direction). Before the
1980s, only slight additional preparation around the
distal pubis and between the knees was done, removing
a little more of the feathers behind the right tibia
(Figs. 1 and 6). Additional preparation around the skull
has removed a little of the tips of the anterior feathers
on the back (Fig. 5). Since the 1980s, only a little
detailed preparation around the finger claws has been
done, and a bit along the neck has made the slab paper
thin, actually piercing several small holes through it
(pers. obs., 1996, 2001).
The above is interesting since the current appearance of the Berlin Archaeopteryx, compared to the
early drawing (Fig. 3, although erroneous in some
respects; compare to Dames [26 (pl. 1)] and Heilmann
[49 (Fig. 2)] who also show these imprints) clearly
demonstrates that systematic removal of major portions of the purported feathers, as suggested by Feduccia [36], has not taken place. Either the faint striae at
the base of the neck and the legs are feathers and still
present, or they were never present at all.
6. Body feathers in the Berlin specimen
In May 2001, we studied the slab and counterslab
(Figs. 1 and 2) of the Berlin specimen of Archaeop-
Fig. 6. Feather patches in front of and behind the right tibia. Left
knee and distal pubis and the preparation around them. Main slab.
Abbreviations: Dp, distal pubis; Fr, feather rhachis; Kn, knee; Pm,
preparation marks; Pr, preparation area; Rt, right tibia.
Fig.6. Amas de plumes devant et derrière le tibia droit. Genou
gauche, pubis distal et préparation à l’entour. Plaque principale.
Abréviations : Dp, pubis distal ; Fr, axe de plume ; Kn : genou ; Pm,
marques de préparation ; Pr, zone de préparation ; Rt ; tibia droit.
teryx, using traditional light microscopy and camera
lucida for illustrations. On the ventral side of the cervical vertebral column are faint, superficially ‘hairlike’ impressions, which may or may not be remains of
feathers. The individual striations are faint and the
matrix appears a little too coarse to identify these
structures as evidence of feathers with any degree of
certainty, although this appears a likely explanation.
Dames [26 (p. 39)] thought that the weak striations
in front of the chest at the base of the neck (see also
Fig. 10) had been made by wet and collapsed pennaceous body feathers, but his experiments with soaked
chicks and doves could not reproduce the pattern seen
in Archaeopteryx. In fact, he thought that these feathers
might have formed a ‘collar’ like in some vultures
because of the way they were bent (his pl. I). Other
P. Christiansen, N. Bonde / C. R. Palevol 3 (2004) 99–118
Fig. 7. Left femur and tibia and part of the tail and in between them
feather imprints (arrows), probably from both thigh and shin. The
convex limestone area in front of tibia may hide feather imprints
from the shin. Main slab.
Fig. 7. Fémur gauche, tibia et partie de la queue, avec empreintes de
plumes entre ces pièces (flèches), provenant probablement à la fois
de la cuisse et du jarret. La zone calcaire convexe devant le tibia peut
cacher des empreintes de plumes de la cuisse. Plaque principale.
scholars accepted their presence [30,50], seemingly at
face value. These earlier authors did not doubt their
feathery nature, while most others simply ignored
them, but their simple, ‘hair-like’ morphology could be
indicative of their having been rather simple or a preservation artefact (see further below).
Much more informative are structures on the slab
around the dorsal vertebral column and left and right
tibiae. The impressions above the dorsal vertebral column are clearly feathers. Historically there seems not
to have been much dispute about this, although they are
not usually included in discussions of the Archaeopteryx plumage. The impressions could not have come
from the tail region as they extend considerably past
the ilia. The remiges and rectrices are preserved in
107
what appear to be approximately their natural positions, and none appears to have come away and settled
elsewhere, which would have had to be the case if the
feathers along the back were indeed rectrices. Furthermore, the impressions radiate away at near right angles
from the dorsal vertebral column, and are not jumbled,
but arranged in what appears to be one row along the
vertebral column, again strongly suggesting that their
occurrence along the back was not a result of postmortem displacement.
The dorsal feathers extend from slightly posterior to
the ilia to the middle of the dorsal column, after which
they seem to fade out (Fig. 5). There are about eight of
them with nearly parallel raches. The distal tips of the
anterior ones were removed by the preparation of the
skull roof. But the anterior feathers were probably
slightly shorter than the posterior ones, which when
bent backwards could well have covered the proximal,
muscular part of the tail. Anteriorly, where the feathers
fade out, are some irregularities in the matrix (and a
bone?), and of course the skull. It is impossible to
verify if there was originally only a single row near the
dorsal midline, and one (or a few) could well be hidden
below the thin laminae of limestone. The reconstruction in [30] shows rather large contour feathers in about
two rows in this region.
Their feathery nature seems unequivocal, as they
bear resemblance to undisputed rectrices, but they appear to have been smaller and less rigid. Easily discernible are central raches, faint and sometimes incomplete
and(or) overlapping outlines of the apparently symmetrical vexillae, and in several places even clear impressions of barbs. Barbules cannot be made out, but
the ordered appearance of the vexillae would suggest
the presence in life even of modified barbicles (hamuli). Toward the apices, the vexillae lose their ordered structure and appear more ‘plumulaceous’, suggesting that hamuli were absent in this region. This
further corroborates the notion that they are not rectrices, because rectricial vexillae appear to preserve
their three-dimensional integrity all the way to the
apices. Thus, the dorsal feathers alone would suffice in
assigning evidence of body contour feathers to Archaeopteryx, and clearly pennaceous ones at that.
Faint impressions are also evident posteriorly and
perpendicular to the left femur (Fig. 7), but contrary to
popular opinion this does not represent the ‘hind wing’
of Beebe [4], who believed that the feathers along the
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P. Christiansen, N. Bonde / C. R. Palevol 3 (2004) 99–118
Fig. 8. Imprint of the right tibia with possible feathers and barbules.
Counterslab. Arrows denote the possible outline of a vexillum. A,
Left hand side of tibia; B, right hand side. Abbreviations: Ba,
barbules; Rt, right tibia.
Fig. 8 Empreinte de tibia droit, avec de possibles plumes et barbules.
Contre-plaque. Les flèches soulignent le contour possible d’un vexillum. A, côté gauche du tibia ; B, côté droit. Abréviations : Ba,
barbules ; Rt, tibia droit.
back represented the pelvic alar wing (pp. 49–50) that
had drifted away from its original position (see also
Fig. 5). The femoral impressions are similar to the
impressions around the tibiae, but bend slightly away
from the left tibia. The impressions around the left tibia
could stem from the tail feathers, since the left leg lies
adjacent to the tail, but the orientation of the striations
in the impression, bending towards the tibia, is different and the microstructure also differs from that of
undisputed rectrices, notably in the weak shaft impressions and lack of clearly discernible vanes and barbs
(see further below). However, the patch around the
posterior part of the left tibia appears very similar to
those posterior and anterior to the right tibia. Thus, the
latter were the primary subjects of this study. There are
a substantial number of reasons as to why these impressions are not man-made preparation marks, as has
been suggested [36], but are truly feathery in origin.
Some of the striations proximally behind the left femur
may, in fact, be imprints of feathers that hafted to the
thigh. This is likely partly to have prompted both [4]
and [33] to suggest ‘wings’ on the hind limbs (see de
Beer’s [30] remarks, and further on Tetrapteryx below).
A comparison with preparation marks from around
the slab reveals a number of substantial differences
between the presumed leg feathers and undisputed
preparation marks. The patch anterior to the right tibia
(Fig 6; henceforth termed the integumentary patch) is
subdivided into a number of near-parallel fine and very
faint striations, which, although often fragmentary and
with sections missing or very indistinct, clearly extend
all the way through the patch in nearly straight lines.
The striations are set at roughly 40o to the long axis of
the tibia. They are clearly not the result of smaller
individual lines adjacent or in succession to each other.
The striations are up to 3.5 cm long, but the actual
length is tentative because they are very faint and often
not preserved in their entity. The striations do not reach
the tibial bone but terminate a few millimetres anterior
to it, just like the integumentary structures preserved
with the Chinese non-avian and avian theropods. This
is probably because these structures were imbedded in
the skin, which has long since rotted away.
There are several reasons why these are not preparation marks. First, the striations in the integumentary
patches are uniformly fainter than preparation marks
(e.g., along the long axes of the bones, feet, hands,
claws, vertebral column, adjacent to remiges, etc.).
Second, they are much longer, forming lines up to
3.5 cm in length. This is up to 10 times the length of
typical preparation marks around the feet. Third,
preparation lines are not only shorter, but also much
more clear in outline. Each preparation mark is a short,
sharp longitudinal excavation with well-defined edges
that are offset clearly from the surrounding matrix. In a
typical preparation area are many such small, sharp
lines lying right next to and in succession to each other.
The striations in the integumentary patch are not broken up like this.
Fourth, when examining a larger area that has been
prepared (e.g., along a long bone or around the feet), it
is evident that preparation marks that run parallel to
each other are found in localized patches within the
preparation area. This is due to the preparator’s work
from different angles in order to remove matrix most
efficiently and with less danger of damage to the fossil
(compare, e.g., descriptions of preparation given by
[38,126,135,136]). This creates a pattern of many individual, small, sharp, clearly offset lines lying parallel
and in succession to each other, and right next to this
localized patch is another with the exact same mor-
P. Christiansen, N. Bonde / C. R. Palevol 3 (2004) 99–118
phology within the patch (i.e. all individual lines are
parallel and/or in succession). The angles of the individual lines in this patch are, however, different from
those of the previous patch, since the preparator has
now moved the slab slightly. This differs markedly
from the long, fine striations inside the integumentary
patch.
Fifth, preparation marks are not only sharper and
more clearly offset from the surrounding matrix, but
are clearly also deeper. Sixth, the striations in the
integumentary patch are up to 3.5 cm long. Had the
patch indeed been the result of preparation, it seems
hard to explain why 3.5 cm of matrix should have been
taken away, since this is much more than has been
taken away anywhere else on the fossil. This seems
particularly unlikely, since matrix has clearly not been
removed at all in this area! This is easily recognized
since the matrix lies nearly halfway up the mediolateral extent of the tibia.
Comparison of the Berlin specimen with older
drawings reveals that preparation has taken place
around the pelvic area, mainly to free the pubes, thus
slightly damaging the integumentary patch behind the
right tibia, whereas the integumentary patch in front of
the right tibia is today as it was in 1877. In other places
where the matrix has been prepared away from the
bones, these are nearly completely exposed, and preparation has been done only on the main slab. Additionally, as noted above, the fine striations do not start until
a few millimetres away from the bone. Why should a
preparator prepare an area that does not include the
bone itself?
The above differences are most clearly demonstrated on the small integumentary patch that lies behind the right tibia (with longitudinal striations running at a roughly 60o to the long axis of the bone),
where the fine striations have been damaged by preparation marks toward the distal part of the patch (Fig. 6).
Under the microscope, the difference between the fine
striations and undisputed preparation marks is striking.
Some of this posterior patch has in fact been removed
because of preparation around the knee and to free the
pubes, and by preparation down the distal part of the
tibia. Interestingly, towards the apex of the posterior
integumentary patch, very fine, short lines can be made
out that extend from the longitudinal striations. These
small lines are set at roughly 80–85o to the long axis of
the striations, exactly as would be expected if the long
109
Fig. 9. Drawing of the feather patches surrounding the right tibia on
the counterslab. Tiny areas showing barbs indicated. Camera lucida
by NB, schematic. Stippled, grey lines are shaft impressions.
Fig. 9. Dessin d’amas de plumes entourant le tibia droit sur la
contre-plaque. Petites zones montrant des barbules. Les lignes grises
pointillées sont des impressions dues à l’extraction.
striations represented soft raches and the smaller, finer
lines represented barbs. A vexillum cannot, however,
be traced, because the outline of each feather is quite
blurred.
Seventh, even slight preparation clearly changes the
colour and microstructure of the slab. This is easily
recognized by comparing the surface structure of the
integumentary patch to any preparation patch on the
slab. The colour and surface structure of the integumentary patch does differ from parts on the slab where
nothing is preserved (see, e.g., [14,52,107] for explanations of local differences in sediment structure on
the Archaeopteryx fossils), but these differences are
clearly of a different nature to the changes brought
about by preparation. Rather, the colour and surface
texture of the integumentary patch is very similar to
those patches with undisputed feather impressions,
such as wings or tail.
Finally, examination of the counterslab (Figs. 2 and
8) reveals structures of the integumentary patches that
are less discernible on the slab. The main slab contains
nearly all the bone material, and the counterslab contains clear impressions of forelimbs, including the
hands, legs, feet and vertebral column, including the
tail. The central part of the fossil is, however, missing
on the counterslab. Bone is present only as rib frag-
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P. Christiansen, N. Bonde / C. R. Palevol 3 (2004) 99–118
Fig. 10. Anterior chest region, with left humerus and scapula and
numerous striations, possibly representing body feathers (arrows).
Main slab. Abbreviations: Hu, humerus; Sc, scapula.
Fig. 10. Région antérieure de la poitrine avec humérus gauche,
scapula et nombreuses striations pouvant représenter des plumes de
corps (flèches). Plaque principale. Abréviations : Hu, humérus ; Sc,
scapula.
ments and fragments of the caudals near the articulating facets of several vertebrae. Impressions of the
remiges and rectrices are, however, excellent, and for
many feathers a central rachis, both vexillae and their
barbs can be made out with the naked eye.
Microscopy failed to identify with certainty any
evidence of barbules, because the otherwise very fine
sediment simply appears too coarse for the preservation of such delicate structures, although the ordered
structure of the vexillae strongly suggests the presence
of barbicles modified into hamuli, as noted above. In
all specimens of Archaeopteryx, we have studied (four
skeletons and the isolated feather) possible barbules
that can only be made out in a few regions of the distal
part of the slab of the isolated feather. The isolated
feather was clearly preserved under different circumstances from the skeletal specimens [47].
The integumentary patch of the right tibia on the
counterslab (Fig. 8) bears the same fine striations as are
preserved in the patches around the anterior and posterior face of the tibiae on the slab, especially the right
tibia. On the counterslab it is, however, evident that the
fine, nearly 3-cm-long striations in several places have
short structures preserved that extend away from the
primary striations at a roughly 70o (Fig. 9). These
resemble the barbs of the remiges and rectrices (provided that the shallow longitudinal striations are indeed imprints of rachides), though they appear to be
much shorter. Since no preparation has been done at all
on this part of the counterslab, none of the above
structures can be preparation marks.
Overall, the patches around the legs (presumable
also the femur) are so different from preparation marks
that this explanation must be discarded. The most
likely explanation is that they represent the remains of
body contour feathers, as observed originally by both
Evans [33] and Dames [30], and where barbs cannot be
seen, they are still covered by a very thin limestone
crust, blurring the outline of the structures.
The integumentary patches on the slab failed to
show evidence of a distinct vexillum or tertiary structures (barbules). On the counterslab, secondary structures (barbs), although clearly present, are not preserved in very many places and not very distinct
(Fig. 9). However, faint vexillae may be reconstructed
from several of the long striations (evidently the
raches) by following the small, short striations until
their termination (Fig. 8). Our illustrations of the Berlin specimen bear some resemblance to those of Heller
[51 (pls. 5 and 15)] for the Maxberg specimen, albeit
with proportionally more narrow vanes with more
squarish tips and more simple construction of the
vanes, and not so fully modern in appearance (cf.
Figs. 8 and 9).
7. Tetrapteryx?
Some early authors (e.g., [26,125]) inferred that the
tibia feathers in the Berlin specimen formed ‘feather
trousers’, whereas Evans [33] suggested that they were
more confined to the periphery of the bone, forming
some sort of vane, and being directly involved in flight.
The most important conclusion from the above observations is that some of the striations (the proximal ones
behind left femur) may represent long hind-limb feathers, and this seems to be what prompted Beebe [4] to
accept from a photo of the Berlin specimen “a diminutive wing” in the pelvic region (contra [99]), as discussed by Heilmann [49 (pp. 194–196)], who thought
that Archaeornis’ “thigh feathers are [...] too weak” for
a wing. Heilmann does not discuss these ‘feathers’ of
the fossil any further, but he does reconstruct his
Proavis with a border of short feathers behind the thigh
(Figs. 139 and 142). He does not show the thigh in the
reconstructions of ‘Archaeornis’, but Beebe’s rather
schematic figure clearly shows them (but not much on
the lower leg).
P. Christiansen, N. Bonde / C. R. Palevol 3 (2004) 99–118
The presumed tibial and femoral feathers of the
Berlin Archaeopteryx appear to have assumed an important role, first in Evans’ [33] introductory remarks
about flight with both fore- and hind limbs, and later in
Beebe’s [4] Tetrapteryx hypothesis, which was discussed in detail by Heilmann [49 (194 ff.)] with some
part of Beebe’s idea about this intermediate stage being
accepted (see further above). De Beer [30] and Heller
[51] accepted these feathers around the legs (though
not as ‘wings’, but rather as ‘breeches’ – note that de
Beer seems to confuse femoral feathers and breeches
on the lower legs).
Recent finds of some small and primitive dromaeosaurs show long feathers behind the legs [81,141], and
Microraptor possibly even had a ‘wing’ of very elongate contour feathers behind the whole length of the
leg, including the metatarsals carrying the longest and
asymmetrical ‘flight feathers’ [142] (but see [91]). This
has revived the ‘Tetrapteryx-theory’, and prompted Xu
et al. [142] to implicate such ‘hind wings’ in their
common ancestor with birds (that is, in the stemParaves in the sense of Sereno 1999 [110]), but later
lost in the bird-lineage. Prum [99], however, warns that
perhaps the ‘hind wings’ were apomorphic to dromaeosaurids, implying that the direct lineage towards
birds never had such hind wings, and urged that Archaeopteryx be closely inspected to illuminate this
problem, as we have done here.
We conclude that Archaeopteryx had rather long
contour feathers along the legs, apparently both upper
and lower, and that they may have formed ‘edges’
rather than ‘trousers’. Thus, they might be considered
remnants of former ‘hind wings’ in the bird-lineage,
but only finds of feathered representatives of outgroups
close to Paraves may solve this puzzle [10,22], e.g.,
better preserved specimens of Protarchaeopteryx (cf.
[61]).
8. A comparison with other fossils
The body contour feathers on the back and legs of
Archaeopteryx appear to have been fairly modern in
appearance, although perhaps not as similar to feathers
on most extant, volant birds as are the remiges. However, this is tentative because their state of preservation
is not good enough to draw firm conclusions about
their detailed morphology (contra [26]). Both the
111
feathers that extend from the back and legs (Figs. 5, 6,
8 and 9) appear to have been elongate, with rather
narrow vanes (i.e. not as wide, ovoid and plate-like as a
‘typical’ semiplume body contour feathers) and were
clearly more pliable than the flight feathers. Furthermore, they appear not to have had vanes as closed as
the flight feathers, as evidenced by the morphology of
the feathers along the back (Fig. 6).
Evidently, they were not, however, nearly as simple
and hair-like as the feathers recovered with the primitive coelurosaurian Sinosauropteryx [15,25]. More advanced theropods, such as Sinornithosaurus [139,141]
and Microraptor [142] had more complex, albeit still
superficially ‘hair-like’ body contour feathers and
down-like structures, corresponding approximately to
stage 2 of Prum’s [99] model for feather evolution.
Protarchaeopteryx is said to have ‘down’ and apparently had pennaceous contour feathers [61 (Fig. 3a),
93]. However, these were recovered separately on the
slab, not associated with any particular part of the
body. Accordingly, their identification as body contour
feathers should be regarded as tentative, and they may
represent coverts instead. Caudipteryx also has remiges and rectrices and even downs (pers. obs. and [93]);
as noted above (Fig. 4), they might correspond to
Prum’s [99] stage 2.
In Cryptovolans [81] and Microraptor, there appears to have been body contour feathers of a superficially modern appearance, those of Microraptor being
called ‘plumulaceous’ [142]. Whether these correspond to Prum’s [99] stages 3a (rachis + unbranched
barbs) or the more complex stage 3a+b (rachis, barbs
and barbules), is still not clear, and will require more
analyses of vane morphology. The body contour feathers in Archaeopteryx also appear to correspond to
Prum’s [99] stage 3, but the stage of preservation is
such that even careful analyses failed to distinguish
between stages 3a or 3a+b. At an approximate length of
3.5 cm along the epipodials this may seem a lot for a
bird of Archaeopteryx’ size [144] and could represent
the remains of ‘hind-limb wings’, as are present in
Microraptor gui [142] (but see [91]) and possibly
M. zhaoianus [140]. In Archaeopteryx the ‘hindwings’ were apparently much less prominent than in
M. gui, and probably absent from the metapodials, thus
perhaps representing a more modern way of flight with
the forelimbs only. Thus, if Archaeopteryx really did
possess a vestigial ‘hind-limb wing’, this might be
regarded as an avialean plesiomorphy.
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P. Christiansen, N. Bonde / C. R. Palevol 3 (2004) 99–118
The plumages of the many specimens of confuciusornithid birds recovered from northeastern China are
usually in a much poorer state of preservation, and are
likewise preserved mainly as carbonised residue, not as
imprints [20], rendering analyses of their detailed morphology difficult. At a glance the body contour feathers
appear hair-like, not unlike the simple filaments recovered with several of the non-avian theropods. However,
the phylogenetic position of the Confuciusornithidae
(Fig. 4) and the probable morphology of the body
feathers, at least around the legs and back, of Archaeopteryx (and feathers in some dromaeosaurs), suggest
that future analyses of the detailed morphology of
body feathers in well-preserved confuciusornithids
will reveal pennaceous, not simple and ‘hair-like’ body
feathers.
9. Points on preservation
The Berlin Archaeopteryx exhibits well-preserved
rectrices and remiges with coverts [106] as sharp imprints, but rather weak imprints of the feathers on the
back and hind limbs, and questionable structures below the throat and on the chest. Thus, two models for
the type of preservation must be taken into account.
The pattern observed today approximates a realistic
image of the plumage in the living animals, although a
few layers of feathers may be hidden under thin crusts
of limestone (see [106,107]). The near-absence of
larger feathers on the body (apart from the back) is
primary, indicating that, at most, rather simple ‘downlike’ feathers or ‘hair-like’ cryptoptiles (e.g. not unlike
those of Sinosauropteryx [25]) covered the body.
These were lost during fossilization. The faint striations below the neck and at the chest could be the only
remains of such feathers. Rietschel [106] discussed the
preservation of the wing and tail feathers as imprints of
only the ventral surface, but the body feathers are not
even mentioned, nor were they discussed by Stephan
[119].
Alternatively the observed pattern is only the trivial
result of taphonomic processes (cf. [28,29]; criticised
by [63]) leaving only reasonably well-preserved feathers as a ‘halo’ at the circumference of the carcass
(already suggested by [90,109]), indicating that the
body itself may well have been covered by contour
feathers at least as well developed as the ones along the
back. The preserved pattern is exclusively secondary,
and, thus, of limited significance. Such an explanation
has been offered for the preservation of feathers in
Confuciusornis [20] and in the Middle Eocene deposit
of Messel [53,72]. Model (2) is the less interesting
alternative and is close to an ad hoc assumption. There
is little reason to believe that Archaeopteryx did not
have some feather covering all over the body, apart
from perhaps the feet and parts of the face. Both models can be tested by new and better-preserved fossil
finds.
How may the feathers have been arranged? As [119]
noted, there is universal agreement that the rectrices,
symmetrically preserved in the London and Berlin
specimens, were arranged in one row along the lateral
sides of the tail, although in the former specimen the
caudals are viewed from above and in the latter from
the side. To our knowledge, it has never been argued
that they were arranged vertically, or that rectrices
were present all the way round the caudals (as appears
to be the case with the strange fibres recovered with a
Psittacosaurus specimen [73]), and the cryptoptiles in
Sinosauropteryx [15,25]. Accordingly, an ad hoc explanation of missing rectrices owing to a decomposing
carcass has not been advanced in this respect.
With the feathers preserved rather symmetrical
along the lower legs (also a slender structure with little
flesh for decomposition) the situation is, however, different. Most often these have been regarded as forming
‘feather trousers’ or at least having had a circumferential distribution, analogous, or most probably homologous, to extant neornithines. It cannot, however, be
ruled out that they too were primarily arranged as
feather borders, at most a few rows in thickness. The
extremely large hind limb feathers in Microraptor are
interpreted in just this fashion [99,142], and not as the
leftover remains of a preservation artefact. Additionally, it would be a rather peculiar incidence if just one
(or a few at most) of the feather rows got preserved,
lying with near-parallel raches in apparently just one
level, without any trace of neighbouring rows, if indeed they were present.Yet such seems to be the case in
Archaeopteryx (and Microraptor). We could only determine one incident of a crossing of two supposed
raches.
Accordingly, an interpretation of Archaeopteryx as
endowed with a sort of ‘Tetrapteryx - hind limb wing’,
albeit reduced compared to both Evans’ [33] and
P. Christiansen, N. Bonde / C. R. Palevol 3 (2004) 99–118
Beebe’s [4] hypothetical Proavis-stages (and certain
members of the plesiomorphic sister taxon Dromaeosauridae). Minimally the preservation pattern appears
to support “feather fringes” along the legs of Archaeopteryx instead of ‘feather trousers’.
10. Proto-pterylosis?
If model (1) for the preservation of the plumage of
the Berlin Archaeopteryx is correct, this implies that
some parts of the body (back and legs) bore, at most, a
few rows of larger feathers, while other areas (main
part of the corpus, perhaps most of the neck) had, at
most, smaller proto-feathers or ‘proto-down’. This implies that some areas had large pennaceous feathers
while others lacked them and only had ‘simpler’ structures, and perhaps even were unfeathered. Thus, something similar to pterylae could have been present on the
legs and at the midline of the back, i.e. ‘proto-pterylae’
and ‘proto-apteria’. Obviously, this idea can be tested
by new discoveries of fossil of either Archaeopteryx or
close relatives, with more well-preserved plumage.
In the development of pterylae in extant birds (even
comprising the down plumage of more simplified
structures [11,66]), it becomes evident that the middle
of the back and legs (both upper and lower) nearly
always carry pterylae with pennaceous feathers. There
are many other areas with pterylae and apteria in general in neognaths, save penguins that have a rather
uniform feather covering. Such uniformity is also
found in ratites but not in tinamous, implying an uncertainty of the polarity of this character in the last common ancestor of crown-clade Aves (= Neornithes). Did
this common ancestor have apteria or a uniform feather
covering?
The pattern of pterylae (‘pterylosis’ according to
[66 (p. 73)]) is generally also mirrored in the pattern of
papillae for the embryonic down (neoptiles – see [11]).
The stripes on the back are often paired, but set close to
the midline (op. cit., Fig. 50), or unpaired in the anterior region of the back, and these tracts are composed
of only a few rows of feathers. As mentioned above, in
the Berlin specimen, we cannot be sure whether there
was only a single row of feathers as observed, or one or
a few rows hidden below the laminae. From a functional point of view, this one (or a few) row(s) along the
back hardly stood upright in life, as in the fossil. It
113
seems more likely that the feathers were lying down to
cover the muscular part of the proximal tail. The row as
preserved apparently ends around the middle of the
back, at least it fades out in the matrix. Whether this
was the case in the living animal is unknown, but
smaller and simpler feathers may well have covered
the anterior part of the back and neck. There is no
obvious, taphonomic reason why larger feathers
should have disappeared from these areas when being
preserved posteriorly.
It is perhaps of interest that in some birds the ontogenetically earliest feathers (neoptiles) to develop are
often of considerable length, and are situated at the
midline above the pelvis and the posterior back and on
the thighs [11], e.g., in crows, and in others species,
e.g., herons, these long feathers are also present on the
thighs, and are arranged in double rows close to the
entire midline of the back (op. cit., Fig. 26). Could such
a pattern be yet another case of recapitulation or is it
just fortuitous? We prefer the former, which supports
Haeckel’s theories (see also [7]). Thus, it is possible
that the early development of these long neoptiles in
extant birds, to be replaced by pennaceous feathers in
the pterylae, could represent the pattern observed in
archaic avialeans, as exemplified by Archaeopteryx.
Such ‘proto-pterylosis’ may in fact be even older,
characterising the ancestral maniraptoran, as indicated
by the plumage in Caudipteryx and dromaeosaurs.
Thus, the polarity within primitive Neornithes may be
solved. They had pterylosis, not a uniform feather
covering. On the other hand, we believe that the ‘patterning’ of the integumental covering in Sinosauropteryx as shown by the ringed appearance of the tail
[15,25] is a preservation artefact conditioned by the
vertebral arches (pers. obs.). Sinosauropteryx probably
had a more uniform covering of cryptoptiles [25].
Accordingly, early coelurosaurs may not yet have been
‘pterylized’.
11. Summary
The Berlin specimen of Archaeopteryx is the only
one to preserve remnants of body plumage (apart from
the now missing Maxberg specimen), which is here
described in detail. The London specimen shows no
indications of body feathers. Most of the body feathers
that were originally present are still present today and
114
P. Christiansen, N. Bonde / C. R. Palevol 3 (2004) 99–118
preparation has only damaged a few. They have been
largely overlooked in 130 years of debate on Archaeopteryx, feathers.
3–4-cm long feathers are present around the legs,
and although not well preserved, shafts and in some
places parallel, closely set barbs can be observed. Barbules are not visible, but may be inferred. The vanes
can be vaguely outlined, and the feathers may have
formed ‘trousers’, or, alternatively, narrow ‘edges’ on
the fore and aft sides of the limbs. Less well preserved
feathers of roughly the same type are present behind
the femora, albeit only as weak impressions of parallel
raches. Undisputed feathers with raches and faint vexillae are present nearly perpendicular to the vertebral
column, from the ilium to halfway up the back. Their
slightly bent shafts appear quite similar to the feathers
on the lower legs. The dorsal row of feathers (one row
apparently, although more may be hidden below thin
limestone crust) probably covered the back and the
proximal tail in life. These feathers are clearly body
contour feathers.
Faint imprints in front of the breast may be shafts of
more simple and ‘hair-like’ feathers, or collapsed pennaceous contour feathers. No other feathers can be
observed on the body, and if this represents the original
distribution, then the pattern of feathers along the back
and legs and either none or only small, simple and less
easily preservable feathers on the rest of the body
could indicate the presence of pteria and apteria and
some sort of pterylosis (here termed ‘protopterylosis’).
Comparison with feathered theropod dinosaurs and
primitive birds lead to the following conclusions: (1)
feathers, even pennate remiges and rectrices, originated long before flight, no later than in stemManiraptora, which also had down; (2) simple hair-like
proto-feathers with little branching (resembling the
hypothetical ‘cryptoptiles’ of ornithological literature)
are even older, a synapomorphy of at least Coelurosauria; they might have been retained on part of the body
up to the level of confuciusornithids or even early
ornithurines and enantiornithines; (3) ‘protopterylosis’ is characteristic of Maniraptora, as some
regions have remiges and rectrices, others have pennate body contour feathers, and others have down or
‘cryptoptiles’, the latter two types most likely covering
‘proto-apteria’; (4) the feather rows on the back and the
thigh of Archaeopteryx may correspond to the rows of
very long neoptiles present in the pteria very early in
the ontogeny of several living birds. If so, they perhaps
illustrate a case of Haeckel’s ‘biogenetic law’; (5)
comparison of the ‘feather trousers’ of Archaeopteryx
to the so-called ‘hind wings’ of primitive dromaeosaurs indicates that their common ancestor minimally
had long feathers on the legs, not necessarily ‘wings’,
so whether birds went through a ‘Tetrapteryx stage’
remains uncertain.
Acknowledgements
We are indebted to Dr. Angela Milner and Mrs.
Sandra Chapman at the Natural History Museum in
London, Dr. Günther Viohl and Mr. Pino Völkl at the
Jura Museum in Eichstätt, Drs. Helmut Mayr and Peter
Wellnhofer at the Bayerische Staatssammlung in Munich, and Professor Dieter Stefan Peters and Drs. Gerald Mayr and Michael Gudo at Forschungsinstitut
Senckenberg in Frankfurt for hospitability during our
visits. We are particularly indebted to Professor Hans
Peter Schultze and Drs. Wolf Dieter Heinrich, David
Unwin and Oliver Hampe at the Museum für
Naturkunde in Berlin for their never failing kindness
and hospitability whenever we come to Berlin and for
kindly providing us with high resolution photographs
of Archaeopteryx, skilfully taken by Mrs. Carola
Radke. Thanks to Dr. Jane Richter, School of Conservation, Copenhagen, for criticism of our manuscript, to
Christian Hagen, Geological Institute, for finishing the
drawing. We are particularly indebted to Dr. WolfDieter Heinrich for kindly providing us with his own
personal illustration of the slab (Fig. 2) and to Professor Kevin Padian and Dr. Peter Wellnhofer who provided much insightful criticism for improvement of the
manuscript. This study was supported by a grant from
the Danish National Science Research Council to PC
and a travel grant from the Geological Institute to NB.
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