Via PlanetSave: (hat tip Floyd)
...The fossil of a previously unknown species of dinosaur has been discovered in the chalk beds of the Franconian Jura, and it shows very clear traces of fluffy plumage. The discovery brings up an interesting question, were all dinosaurs feathered?
The new discovery is helping to change our perception of how predatory dinosaurs looked. Sciurumimus albersdoerferi is the first evidence that we have that theropod dinosaurs, which are not closely related to birds, were feathered.
“This is a surprising find from the cradle of feathered dinosaur work, the very formation where the first feathered dinosaur Archaeopteryx was collected over 150 years ago,” said Mark Norell, chair of the Division of Palaeontology at the American Museum of Natural History and an author on the new paper along with researchers from Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie and the Ludwig Maximilians University... More
