#Mirasaura brought me home to #Ireland during this work, where I could show my 92-year-old grandad these exceptionally preserved fossils. To which he replied, "It's just wonderful to see something older than me and age so well"
He couldn't be more right. ☘️ #FossilPreservation @nature.com

Analyses with @ucc.ie detected melanosomes within the crest's soft tissues. These resemble those in modern feathers more than those in reptilian skin or mammalian hair. This suggests the crest of #Mirasaura may have been pigmented and displayed visually 🌈 #FossilMelanosomes @she-paleo.bsky.social

Using #synchrotron imaging, the skull revealed a bird-like cranium with a narrow, mostly toothless snout. #Mirasaura was likely suited to feasting on insects in the early Triassic forests soon after the P-T mass extinction🌴🪳

#Mirasaura provides the first fossil evidence that such integumentary structures actually formed in early reptiles - distantly related to dinosaurs or birds. This pushes back the origin of these traits! #Evolution #FossilPreservation

This impressive crest of #Mirasaura had densely overlapping individual appendages with feather-like contours. But our work shows these are unlike true feathers and indicate an independent evolutionary origin 🦎🪶

Using #synchrotron imaging, the skull revealed a bird-like cranium with a narrow, mostly toothless snout. #Mirasaura was likely suited to feasting on insects in the early Triassic forests soon after the P-T mass extinction🌴🪳

#Mirasaura provides the first fossil evidence that such integumentary structures actually formed in early reptiles - distantly related to dinosaurs or birds. This pushes back the origin of these traits! #Evolution #FossilPreservation