Editors:
- Provides an overview of outstanding fossil discoveries from the past two decades that are essential to understanding feather evolution
- Offers unique insights into the topic of feather evolution from a palaeontological perspective
- Enriches readers’ understanding of the Dinosaur-Bird transition
Part of the book series: Fascinating Life Sciences (FLS)
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Table of contents (12 chapters)
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Front Matter
About this book
Feathers are one of the most unique characteristics of modern birds and represent the most complex and colourful type of skin derivate within vertebrates, while also fulfilling various biological roles, including flight, thermal insulation, display, and sensory function. For years it was generally assumed that the origin of flight was the main driving force for the evolution of feathers. However, various discoveries of dinosaur species with filamentous body coverings, made over the past 20 years, have fundamentally challenged this idea and produced new evolutionary scenarios for the origin of feathers.
This book is devoted to the origin and evolution of feathers, and highlights the impact of palaeontology on this research field by reviewing a number of spectacular fossil discoveries that document the increasing morphological complexity along the evolutionary path to modern birds. Also featuring chapters on fossil feather colours, feather development and its genetic control, the book offers a timely and comprehensive overview of this popular research topic.
Editors and Affiliations
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Department of Geosciences, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
Christian Foth
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Department for Earth and Environmental Sciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Palaeontology and Geobiology, GeoBioCenter, München, Germany
Oliver W. M. Rauhut
About the editors
Christian Foth: Dipl. Biol., Dr. rer. nat. is a palaeobiologist, who studied biology at the University of Rostock and gained his doctoral degree in palaeontology from the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich for studying the skull shape evolution of archosaurian reptiles. His research focusses on the evolution of archosaurs and the origin of birds. He currently works as a senior assistant at the Department of Geosciences of the University of Fribourg.
Oliver W. M. Rauhut: Dipl. Geol., PhD, Dr. habil, apl. Prof. is a vertebrate palaeontologist who studied geology and palaeontology at the Free University of Berlin, and gained his PhD from the University of Bristol on the phylogenetic relationships of theropod dinosaurs. He is an expert in the evolution of dinosaurs and other extinct reptiles and works currently as Curator for Lower Vertebrates at the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology and adjunct Professor for Palaeontology at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences of Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Evolution of Feathers
Book Subtitle: From Their Origin to the Present
Editors: Christian Foth, Oliver W. M. Rauhut
Series Title: Fascinating Life Sciences
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27223-4
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life Sciences, Biomedical and Life Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-27222-7Published: 12 March 2020
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-27225-8Published: 26 August 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-27223-4Published: 11 March 2020
Series ISSN: 2509-6745
Series E-ISSN: 2509-6753
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: VIII, 243
Number of Illustrations: 9 b/w illustrations, 71 illustrations in colour
Topics: Evolutionary Biology, Paleontology, Animal Anatomy / Morphology / Histology, Vertebrates, Animal Ecology, Animal Physiology