先有羽毛，后有鳥！

先有羽毛，后有鳥！

New research, led by the University of Bristol, suggests that feathers arose 100 million years before birds -- changing how we look at dinosaurs, birds, and pterosaurs, the flying reptiles.

由布里斯托爾大學領導的一項最新研究表明，羽毛的出現(xiàn)比鳥類早1億年，這改變了我們對恐龍、鳥類和翼龍(一種會飛的爬行動物)的看法。

It also changes our understanding of feathers themselves, their functions and their role in some of the largest events in evolution.

它還改變了我們對羽毛本身、它們的功能以及它們在進化過程中某些重大事件中的作用的理解。

The new work, published in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution combines new information from palaeontology and molecular developmental biology.

這項發(fā)表在《生態(tài)與進化趨勢》雜志上的新研究結合了古生物學和分子發(fā)育生物學的新信息。

The key discovery came earlier in 2019, when feathers were reported in pterosaurs -- if the pterosaurs really carried feathers, then it means these structures arose deep in the evolutionary tree, much deeper than at the point when birds originated.

關鍵的發(fā)現(xiàn)出現(xiàn)在2019年早些時候，當時有報道稱翼龍身上長有羽毛——如果翼龍身上真的長有羽毛，那么這意味著這些結構出現(xiàn)在進化樹的深處，比鳥類起源時要深得多。

Lead author, Professor Mike Benton, from the University of Bristol's School of Earth Sciences, said: "The oldest bird is still Archaeopteryx first found in the Late Jurassic of southern Germany in 1861, although some species from China are a little older.

研究報告的主要撰寫者、布里斯托爾大學地球科學學院的邁克·本頓教授說:“目前發(fā)現(xiàn)的最古老的鳥類仍然是始祖鳥，1861年始祖鳥首次出現(xiàn)在德國南部的侏羅紀晚期，盡管一些來自中國的始祖鳥的年齡稍大一些。”

"Those fossils all show a diversity of feathers -- down feathers over the body and long, vaned feathers on the wings. But, since 1994, palaeontologists have been contending with the perturbing discovery, based on hundreds of amazing specimens from China, that many dinosaurs also had feathers."

“這些化石都顯示出羽毛的多樣性——身體上的羽絨羽毛和翅膀上長長的帶葉片的羽毛。但是，自從1994年以來，古生物學家們就一直在與一個令人不安的發(fā)現(xiàn)作斗爭，這個發(fā)現(xiàn)是基于數(shù)百個來自中國的令人驚奇的標本，許多恐龍也有羽毛。”

Co-author, Baoyu Jiang from the University of Nanjing, added: "At first, the dinosaurs with feathers were close to the origin of birds in the evolutionary tree.

研究報告的撰寫者之一、南京大學的蔣寶玉補充說:“起初，在進化樹上，長羽毛的恐龍與鳥類的起源非常接近。

"This was not so hard to believe. So, the origin of feathers was pushed back at least to the origin of those bird-like dinosaurs, maybe 200 million years ago."

“這并不難相信。所以，羽毛的起源至少可以追溯到那些類鳥恐龍的起源，可能是2億年前。”

Dr Maria McNamara, co-author from University College Cork, said: "Then, we had the good fortune to work on a new dinosaur from Russia, Kulindadromeus.

科克大學學院的合著者瑪麗亞·麥克納馬拉博士說：“然后，我們有幸研究了一種來自俄羅斯的新恐龍——庫林達洛梅厄斯。

"This dinosaur showed amazingly well-preserved skin covered with scales on the legs and tail, and strange whiskery feathers all over its body.

這只恐龍的腿和尾巴上覆蓋著鱗片，皮膚保存得非常完好，全身長滿了奇怪的胡須羽毛。

"What surprised people was that this was a dinosaur that was as far from birds in the evolutionary tree as could be imagined. Perhaps feathers were present in the very first dinosaurs."

“讓人們感到驚訝的是，這是一種恐龍，它與進化樹上的鳥類之間的距離是人們所能想象的最遠的。也許羽毛存在于最早的恐龍身上。”

Danielle Dhouailly from the University of Grenoble, also a co-author, works on the development of feathers in baby birds, especially their genomic control. She said: "Modern birds like chickens often have scales on their legs or necks, and we showed these were reversals: what had once been feathers had reversed to be scales.

格勒諾布爾大學(University of Grenoble)的丹妮爾·杜維利(Danielle Dhouailly)也是該研究的合著者之一，她的研究方向是幼鳥羽毛的發(fā)育，尤其是它們的基因組控制。她說:“像雞這樣的現(xiàn)代鳥類的腿上或脖子上經(jīng)常有鱗片，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)這些是顛倒過來的:曾經(jīng)是羽毛的東西現(xiàn)在變成了鱗片。”

"In fact, we have shown that the same genome regulatory network drives the development of reptile scales, bird feathers, and mammal hairs. Feathers could have evolved very early."

“事實上，我們已經(jīng)證明，同樣的基因組調(diào)控網(wǎng)絡驅(qū)動爬行動物鱗片、鳥類羽毛和哺乳動物毛發(fā)的發(fā)育。羽毛可能很早就進化出來了。”

Baoyu Jiang continued: "The breakthrough came when we were studying two new pterosaurs from China.

蔣寶玉繼續(xù)說道:“當我們研究來自中國的兩只新的翼龍時，我們?nèi)〉昧送黄啤?rdquo;

"We saw that many of their whiskers were branched. We expected single strands -- monofilaments -- but what we saw were tufts and down feathers. Pterosaurs had feathers."

“我們看到它們的許多胡須都是分叉的。我們期待單股、單絲，但我們看到的是簇絨和羽毛。翼龍有羽毛。”

Professor Benton added: "This drives the origin of feathers back to 250 million years ago at least.

本頓教授補充說:“這使得羽毛的起源至少可以追溯到2.5億年前。”

"The point of origin of pterosaurs, dinosaurs and their relatives. The Early Triassic world then was recovering from the most devastating mass extinction ever, and life on land had come back from near-total wipe-out.

“翼龍、恐龍及其近親的起源點。當時的三疊紀早期世界正從有史以來最具毀滅性的物種大滅絕中恢復過來，陸地上的生命也從幾近滅絕的狀態(tài)中恢復過來。

"Palaeontologists had already noted that the new reptiles walked upright instead of sprawling, that their bone structure suggested fast growth and maybe even warm-bloodedness, and the mammal ancestors probably had hair by then.

古生物學家已經(jīng)注意到，這種新的爬行動物直立行走，而不是四肢伸開，它們的骨骼結構表明它們生長迅速，甚至可能是溫血，而哺乳動物的祖先可能在那時就有了毛發(fā)。

"So, the dinosaurs, pterosaurs and their ancestors had feathers too. Feathers then probably arose to aid this speeding up of physiology and ecology, purely for insulation. The other functions of feathers, for display and of course for flight, came much later."

所以，恐龍、翼龍和它們的祖先也有羽毛。羽毛的出現(xiàn)可能是為了促進生理和生態(tài)的加速，純粹是為了保溫。羽毛的其他功能，用于展示，當然也用于飛行，要晚得多。”