How does sexual selection affect tail feather evolution?

How does sexual selection affect bird tail feather evolution? The secret of this 120 million-year-old bird

How does sexual selection affect bird tail feather evolution? How did this bird's secret choice made 120 million years ago affect the evolution of bird tail feathers? The secret of this 120 million-year-old bird

China News Service, Beijing, September 17 (Reporter Sun Zifa) Tail feathers are an important part of the bird's flight system.
Its shape is affected by natural selection (aerodynamics) and sexual selection that attracts the opposite sex
.

How does sexual selection affect bird tail feather evolution? Has always attracted the attention of academic circles

Scientists have recently discovered and named the new genus "Yuān chú" (Yuān chú), a new genus of the anti-avian pennidae 120 million years ago in the Early Cretaceous
.

"Zhuangzi·Autumn Water": "There are birds in the south, and their name is Grenada chicks"), the study reveals the influence of the dynamic interaction between sexual selection and natural selection on the early evolution of birds

Two special tail feather shapes converge for the first time

Two special tail feather shapes converge for the first time

By the China Ke Xueyuan and Paleoanthropology of vertebrate paleontology researcher Wang Min, Zhou and academicians led and joint studies on the evolution of bird feathers US Field Museum of Natural History, Nanjing University, Linyi University, Tianyu Museum of Natural History, etc.
together to complete the The result paper was published online in the international professional academic journal "Contemporary Biology" on the night of September 16, Beijing time
.

Academician of the Academy of Sciences

Wang Min, a young scientist who has just won the Scientific Exploration Award, is the first author and corresponding author of the paper.
He introduced that anti-birds are the first group to undergo global radiation differentiation in the evolution of birds.
(All modern birds evolved from it) constitute sister groups
.

The continuous discovery of fossils makes it possible to trace the ecological-morphological diversity changes of this sister group during the nearly 65 million years of co-evolution

The Ya-tailed Gnome fossil is produced in the Jiufotang Formation of the Lower Cretaceous in Liaoning.
It belongs to a class of Mesozoic anti-birds with needle-shaped tails.
Its tail feathers are fan-shaped by four pairs of flaky feathers, with a prominent pair of tail feathers in the middle.
Lengthened, even more than 1.
3 times the body length, the rachis on it is unusually wide, and the short tail feathers on both sides form a species that has never been seen in dinosaurs or Mesozoic birds, but is similar to some modern birds such as sunbirds.
Very similar pin tail structure
.

This study found that the Ya-tailed Grenade has combined the two special tail feathers of "pinnacle-dominant feathers with end feathering" and complete pinnacles together for the first time

Or the effect of the "obstacle principle"

Or the effect of the "obstacle principle"

Many male birds have colorful and complex tail feathers, which are obviously not good for flying, but they are good for attracting the opposite sex.
Darwin proposed the concept of "sexual selection" accordingly
.

Wang Min pointed out that when the length of the feather exceeds the maximum width of the fan formed by the tail feathers, the excess feathers will reduce the efficiency of flight.

He said that compared to the "pinnacle-dominant feathers with end-feathering", the full pinnacles of the long tail feathers on the Ya-tailed Grenada are obviously more detrimental to the survival of the individual in terms of growth and daily maintenance.
Such a decorative feature, which is more unfavorable from the perspective of natural selection, in most cases reflects the relatively better competitiveness of the holder (obtaining food, building nests, raising offspring, etc.
).
This sexual selection mechanism is Called the "obstacle principle", the structure of the tail feathers of the Ya-tailed Grenada is likely to be the result of the "obstacle principle"
.

Interaction affects bird evolution together

Interaction affects bird evolution together

Wang Min said that unlike anti-birds, the Mesozoic modern birds all had fan-shaped tail feathers, but they rarely had decorative tail feather structures
.

The research team counted all the anti-birds and current bird types found, and found that long tail feathers due to sexual selection are more common in anti-birds, and proposed that the tail feathers are completely different in the two sister groups.

Anti-birds are dominated by arboreals, and need to bypass the shelter of shrubs through exaggerated tail feathers in order to attract the opposite sex; early modern bird-types inhabit open lakes, and complex tail feathers are easily found by predators, so they adapt The aerodynamic fan-shaped tail feathers are more widely distributed under the action of natural selection.
These modern bird types may attract the opposite sex through singing, nesting or other methods
.

"The continuously discovered fossils further show that the interaction of sexual selection, natural selection, and ecological opportunities together have an impact on the evolution of birds
.

" Wang Min said