RAINBOW DINOSAUR: A newly discovered species of dinosaur had rainbow colors and iridescent features.
The species, Caihong juji, lived 161 million years ago, displayed rainbow coloring and was the size of a duck. It had ribbonlike feathers that were “probably iridescent,” according to the Field Museum in Chicago, “with colors that shimmered and shifted in the light."
Discovered by a farmer in northeastern China, the species was described by an international team of scientists led by Dongyu Hu, professor in the college of paleontology at Shenyang Normal University in China.
Researchers determined the dinosaur’s appearance by analyzing the structure of melanosomes. (Melanosomes are defined by the Journal of Cell Science as, "the pigment granules that provide tissues with color and photo-protection.")
By finding birds with similarly shaped melanosomes, the scientists were able to determine what kinds of colors the dinosaur may have flashed. Hummingbirds were the best match.
The research, "A bony-crested Jurassic dinosaur with evidence of iridescent plumage highlights complexity in early paravian evolution," by Dongyu Hu, et al, was published in Nature Communications on Jan. 15.
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