A Holy Confucius Bird at Dusk

Confuciusornis sanctus, the well-known protobird species from China. If you watch my scraps, you'll know this started life as C. dui. The reason for the change was coloration. I had my heart set on this, based on looking at heaps of photos of C. sanctus that all seemed to show the same pattern of light/dark in the feathers. Pigment? Maybe, some folks are working on the question of pigment preservation in the feathers of Jehol fossils now. Either way, the holotype of C. dui, though it has a more unique upturned bill, doesn't seem to fit the pattern. Nor does the type of Eoconfuciusornis, the only other Mesozoic bird specimen with a preserved horny beak. Erring on the conservative side, I've also given C. sanctus a straight beak, like Eoconfuciusornis (which may be the same species anyway), though the exact beak shape in C. sanctus (and every other Mesozoic bird and feathered dinosaur) remains unknown.

For a full write-up and scale diagram, see [link]