本刊记者王为报道国际权威的学术刊物《自然》杂志日前刊发最新研究成果,中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所徐星、周忠和与美国勘萨斯大学进化与生态学系的鸟类学家瑞克·普朗(Richard Prum)的最新研究成果《中国鸟龙分叉的皮肤衍生结构与羽毛的起源》,提出鸟类羽毛起源新说。由于在最古老的鸟类始祖鸟的身体上羽毛结构已经十分地进步,因此长期以来我们对鸟类羽毛起源的了解十分有限。虽然最近发现的几种兽脚类恐龙的身上发现的毛状的皮肤衍生物都曾被假设为原始的羽毛,然而,由于化石保持以及证据的不足,对于这些恐龙身体上的结构和鸟类羽毛之间的同源关系国际学术界一直存在激烈的争论。而对于另外两种被认为带有真正的鸟类羽毛的恐龙(“原始祖鸟”和尾羽龙),学术界 Our correspondent Wang is the authoritative journal of the journal Nature, which has recently published the latest research results. Xu Xing, Zhou Zhonghe, the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Birds of the Department of Evolutionary and Ecology, Kansei University, USA The latest research result of the anthropologist Richard Prum, “The Derived Structure of Chinese Bird Dragon and the Origins of Feathers,” put forward a new theory of the origins of bird feathers. Since the structure of the feathers has been greatly improved on the body of the oldest bird archeopteryx, our understanding of the origins of bird feathers has long been limited. Although the hairy skin derivatives found on several recently discovered orropod dinosaurs have all been hypothesized to be primordial feathers, the physical structure of these dinosaurs and the feathering of birds due to inadequate fossil conservation and evidence The homology between the international academic community there has been heated debate. As for the other two dinosaurs (“Protoceratops” and Tail Feathers), which are considered to have true bird feathers, academics