The Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Creationism (2018)

3. Survey of Feathered Dinosaurs Though hypothesized, there was no direct evidence of definite dinosaurs possessing feathers until the late 20 th century. This changed in 1996 with the discovery of Sinosauropteryx . Since then, there have been dozens of taxa reported to have inferred and direct evidence of feathers in each of the major coelurosaurian clades (Fig. 4). What follows is a non-exhaustive survey of dinosaurs known to have feathers. Compsognathids are a group of theropods known for their small size and relatively large thumbs. In 1996, the tiny theropod Sinosauropteryx , a compsognathid, was found in the Liaoning Province of China (Chen et al. 1998). The most striking feature of the holotype is the ridge of short, filamentous integument running down the head, neck, back, and top and underside of the tail (Fig. 5). Other specimens have ventral patches of this integument, suggesting the entire body would have been covered in life. A larger compsognathid, Sinocalliopteryx , was described in 2007 and known to be covered in filamentous feathers (Ji et al. 2007). While feathers were found in expected areas such as the flank, hips, and tail (Fig. 6), they were also found on the upper foot. Tyrannosauroids are small-to-large theropods best known for the famous tyrannosaurids (e.g., Tyrannosaurus , Albertosaurus , etc.), which possessed large, deep skulls and reduced arms. However, Tyrannosauroidea is a broader group, and includes smaller animals that share similarities with their larger relatives (Holtz 2004). The first evidence of feathers in this group was documented in McLain et al. ◀ Feathered dinosaurs reconsidered ▶ 2018 ICC 475 Figure 5. Holotype of Sinosauropteryx prima showing integument. https://www.flickr.com/photos/50159489 @N00/1492438954/ Dinosaurs! by https://www.flickr.com/people/50159489 @N00" Sam / Olai Ose / Skjaervoy. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en CC BY-SA 2.0. Figure 6. Filamentous integument along the tail of Sinocalliopteryx . Abbreviations: C, centrum; Ch, chevron; In, integument. Cropped from Xing et al. (2012), obtained via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 2.5.