But a new study, published by a team led by South African academic Theagarten Lingham-Soliar at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, sweeps away the proto-feathers claim.And then, of course, there is that dratted problem with all those missing links...
The two-branched structures, called rachis with barbs, that were proclaimed as early feathers are quite simply the remains of a frill of collagen fibres that ran down the dinosaur's back from head to tail, they say.
The evidence comes from a recently discovered specimen of Sinoauropteryx, also found in the same Yixian Formation at Liaoning, that Lingham-Soliar put to the scrutiny of a high-powered microscope.
What is missing are the links between Archaeopteryx and other species that would show how it evolved. But fossil record is frustratingly small and incomplete and this is why debate has been so fierce.But, we must not question the evolutionary “fact” that birds evolved from dinos...
Lingham-Soliar's team do not take issue with the [dino-to-bird] theory itself.LOL, yeah, they better not or the Darwin police will come down on them with hell's fury.
Recent reports have also found that the early history of birds was much more diverse than previously thought.
