By: Max Ye

Looking stylishly luxurious might have been a benefit for pterosaurs. Pterosaurs are flying reptiles that have colorful feathers on their heads, based on fossil evidence.

The discovery of the feather means that it could relate back to a common ancestor of dinosaurs and pterosaurs. This is enough evidence to tell that its first appearance was during the early Triassic Period, 250 million years ago.

Scientists analyzed the fossil skull of a 113-million-year-old pterosaur and found that this reptile had two different types of feathers on its head. Paleontologist Aude Cincotta who works at University College Cork in Ireland, discovered this. Some of the feathers were long and thin, which looked like whiskers.Others had a more complex, branching structure. These kinds of feathers are similar to modern birds. Cincotta and her colleagues shared their research on April 20 in Nature.

The fossil’s soft tissues, also known as non-bones, were also well-preserved. These allowed the team to find a variety of different cells containing colored pigments. These cells are called melanosomes, and are found in both skin and feathers. “Very elongate. Cigarettes are shaped into flattened platelike disks,” says Maria McNamara, a paleobiologist. She works at the University College of Cork alongside paleontologist Aude Cincotta.

“The shapes of melanosomes are linked to different colors,” she said. “Round ones usually would relate to yellow, or reddish-brown colors, and the longer ones would link to darker colors.”

Shapes of the found fossil’s melanosomes suggest that this species probably had been quite flashy. This also leads to the conclusion that those feathers are not only for warmth. They could have been used to attract mates and send signals.