Animal coloration through deep time: evolutionary novelty, homology and taphonomy

Project Information

ANICOLEVO

Grant agreement ID: 637691

DOI 10.3030/637691

Project closed

EC signature date 6 July 2015

Start date 1 January 2016

End date 30 April 2021

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost € 1 562 000,00

EU contribution € 1 562 000,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK - NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, CORK
Ireland

Publications

Peer reviewed articles (23)

Experimental investigation of insect deposition in lentic environments and implications for formation of Konservat Lagerstätten

Author(s): Qingyi Tian, Shengyu Wang, Zixiao Yang, Maria E. McNamara, Michael J. Benton, Baoyu Jiang
Published in: Palaeontology, Issue 63/4, 2020, Page(s) 565-578, ISSN 0031-0239
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing Inc.
DOI: 10.1111/pala.12472

Taphonomic experiments resolve controls on the preservation of melanosomes and keratinous tissues in feathers

Author(s): Tiffany S. Slater, Maria E. McNamara, Patrick J. Orr, Tara B. Foley, Shosuke Ito, Kazumasa Wakamatsu
Published in: Palaeontology, Issue 63/1, 2019, Page(s) 103-115, ISSN 0031-0239
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing Inc.
DOI: 10.1111/pala.12445

Synchrotron x‐ray fluorescence analysis reveals diagenetic alteration of fossil melanosome trace metal chemistry

Author(s): Christopher S. Rogers, Samuel M. Webb, Maria E. McNamara
Published in: Palaeontology, Issue 64/1, 2021, Page(s) 63-73, ISSN 0031-0239
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing Inc.
DOI: 10.1111/pala.12506

Pterosaur integumentary structures with complex feather-like branching

Author(s): Zixiao Yang, Baoyu Jiang, Maria E. McNamara, Stuart L. Kearns, Michael Pittman, Thomas G. Kaye, Patrick J. Orr, Xing Xu, Michael J. Benton
Published in: Nature Ecology & Evolution, Issue 3/1, 2019, Page(s) 24-30, ISSN 2397-334X
Publisher: Springer Nature Limited
DOI: 10.1038/s41559-018-0728-7

Decoding the Evolution of Melanin in Vertebrates

Author(s): M.E. McNamara, V. Rossi, T.S. Slater, C.S. Rogers, A.-L. Ducrest, S. Dubey, A. Roulin
Published in: Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Issue 36/5, 2021, Page(s) 430-443, ISSN 0169-5347
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2020.12.012

Brilliant angle-independent structural colours preserved in weevil scales from the Swiss Pleistocene

Author(s): Luke T. McDonald, Suresh Narayanan, Alec Sandy, Vinodkumar Saranathan, Maria E. McNamara
Published in: Biology Letters, Issue 16/4, 2020, Page(s) 20200063, ISSN 1744-9561
Publisher: The Royal Society
DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2020.0063

Reply to: No protofeathers on pterosaurs

Author(s): Zixiao Yang, Baoyu Jiang, Maria E. McNamara, Stuart L. Kearns, Michael Pittman, Thomas G. Kaye, Patrick J. Orr, Xing Xu, Michael J. Benton
Published in: Nature Ecology & Evolution, Issue 4/12, 2020, Page(s) 1592-1593, ISSN 2397-334X
Publisher: Springer Nature Limited
DOI: 10.1038/s41559-020-01309-8

Jurassic scorpionflies (Mecoptera) with swollen first metatarsal segments suggesting sexual dimorphism

Author(s): Yan-jie Zhang, Peter J. M. Shih, Jun-you Wang, Maria E. McNamara, Chungkun Shih, Dong Ren, Tai-ping Gao
Published in: BMC Ecology and Evolution, Issue 21/1, 2021, ISSN 2730-7182
Publisher: Springer Nature Limited
DOI: 10.1186/s12862-021-01771-3

Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction and biostratinomic analysis of the Jurassic Yanliao Lagerstätte in northeastern China

Author(s): Zixiao Yang, Shengyu Wang, Qingyi Tian, Bo Wang, Manja Hethke, Maria E. McNamara, Michael J. Benton, Xing Xu, Baoyu Jiang
Published in: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Issue 514, 2019, Page(s) 739-753, ISSN 0031-0182
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.09.030

The Early Origin of Feathers

Author(s): Michael J. Benton, Danielle Dhouailly, Baoyu Jiang, Maria McNamara
Published in: Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Issue 34/9, 2019, Page(s) 856-869, ISSN 0169-5347
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2019.04.018

Experimental degradation of helicoidal photonic nanostructures in scarab beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae): implications for the identification of circularly polarizing cuticle in the fossil record

Author(s): Giliane P. Odin, Maria E. McNamara, Hans Arwin, Kenneth Järrendahl
Published in: Journal of The Royal Society Interface, Issue 15/148, 2018, Page(s) 20180560, ISSN 1742-5689
Publisher: The Royal Society
DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2018.0560

Experimental analysis of soft-tissue fossilization: opening the black box

Author(s): Mark A. Purnell, Philip J. C. Donoghue, Sarah E. Gabbott, Maria E. McNamara, Duncan J. E. Murdock, Robert S. Sansom
Published in: Palaeontology, Issue 61/3, 2018, Page(s) 317-323, ISSN 0031-0239
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing Inc.
DOI: 10.1111/pala.12360

Fossilization of melanosomes via sulfurization

Author(s): Maria E. McNamara, Bart E. van Dongen, Nick P. Lockyer, Ian D. Bull, Patrick J. Orr
Published in: Palaeontology, Issue 59/3, 2016, Page(s) 337-350, ISSN 0031-0239
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing Inc.
DOI: 10.1111/pala.12238

“Stick ‘n’ peel”: Explaining unusual patterns of disarticulation and loss of completeness in fossil vertebrates

Author(s): Patrick J. Orr, Laetitia B. Adler, Susan R. Beardmore, Heinz Furrer, Maria E. McNamara, Enrique Peñalver-Mollá, Ragna Redelstorff
Published in: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Issue 457, 2016, Page(s) 380-388, ISSN 0031-0182
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.05.024

Fossilized skin reveals coevolution with feathers and metabolism in feathered dinosaurs and early birds

Author(s): Maria E. McNamara, Fucheng Zhang, Stuart L. Kearns, Patrick J. Orr, André Toulouse, Tara Foley, David W. E. Hone, Chris S. Rogers, Michael J. Benton, Diane Johnson, Xing Xu, Zhonghe Zhou
Published in: Nature Communications, Issue 9/1, 2018, ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04443-x

Non-integumentary melanosomes can bias reconstructions of the colours of fossil vertebrates

Author(s): Maria E. McNamara, Jonathan S. Kaye, Michael J. Benton, Patrick J. Orr, Valentina Rossi, Shosuke Ito, Kazumasa Wakamatsu
Published in: Nature Communications, Issue 9/1, 2018, ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05148-x

Exceptionally preserved fossil assemblages through geologic time and space

Author(s): A.D. Muscente, James D. Schiffbauer, Jesse Broce, Marc Laflamme, Kenneth O'Donnell, Thomas H. Boag, Michael Meyer, Andrew D. Hawkins, John Warren Huntley, Maria McNamara, Lindsay A. MacKenzie, George D. Stanley, Nancy W. Hinman, Michael H. Hofmann, Shuhai Xiao
Published in: Gondwana Research, Issue 48, 2017, Page(s) 164-188, ISSN 1342-937X
Publisher: International Association for Godwana Research
DOI: 10.1016/j.gr.2017.04.020

Reconstructing Carotenoid-Based and Structural Coloration in Fossil Skin

Author(s): Maria E. McNamara, Patrick J. Orr, Stuart L. Kearns, Luis Alcalá, Pere Anadón, Enrique Peñalver
Published in: Current Biology, Issue 26/8, 2016, Page(s) 1075-1082, ISSN 0960-9822
Publisher: Cell Press
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.02.038

Hierarchical biota-level and taxonomic controls on the chemistry of fossil melanosomes revealed using synchrotron X-ray fluorescence

Author(s): Valentina Rossi, Samuel M. Webb, Maria E. McNamara
Published in: Scientific Reports, Issue 10/1, 2020, ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-65868-3

Tissue-specific geometry and chemistry of modern and fossilized melanosomes reveal internal anatomy of extinct vertebrates

Author(s): Valentina Rossi, Maria E. McNamara, Sam M. Webb, Shosuke Ito, Kazumasa Wakamatsu
Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Issue 116/36, 2019, Page(s) 17880-17889, ISSN 0027-8424
Publisher: National Academy of Sciences
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1820285116

Synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy of melanosomes in vertebrates and cephalopods: implications for the affinity of Tullimonstrum

Author(s): Christopher S. Rogers, Timothy I. Astrop, Samuel M. Webb, Shosuke Ito, Kazumasa Wakamatsu, Maria E. McNamara
Published in: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Issue 286/1913, 2019, Page(s) 20191649, ISSN 0962-8452
Publisher: Royal Society of London
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.1649

Maturation experiments reveal bias in the chemistry of fossil melanosomes

Author(s): Valentina Rossi, Samuel M. Webb, Maria McNamara
Published in: Geology, Issue 49/7, 2021, Page(s) 784-788, ISSN 0091-7613
Publisher: Geological Society of America
DOI: 10.1130/g48696.1

Fossil scales illuminate the early evolution of lepidopterans and structural colors

Author(s): Qingqing Zhang, Wolfram Mey, Jörg Ansorge, Timothy A. Starkey, Luke T. McDonald, Maria E. McNamara, Edmund A. Jarzembowski, Wilfried Wichard, Richard Kelly, Xiaoyin Ren, Jun Chen, Haichun Zhang, Bo Wang
Published in: Science Advances, Issue 4/4, 2018, Page(s) e1700988, ISSN 2375-2548
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1700988