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Institutional Repository - Research Portal Dépôt Institutionnel - Portail de la Recherche University of Namurresearchportal.unamur.be THESIS / THÈSE DOCTOR OF SCIENCES Taphonomy of fossil integumentary structures and bones from Ornithodira Chemical composition and modes of preservation Author(s) - Auteur(s) : Cincotta, Aude Award date: 2017 Awarding institution: University of Namur Supervisor - Co-Supervisor / Promoteur - Co-Promoteur : Link to publication Publication date - Date de publication : Permanent link - Permalien : Rights / License - Licence de droit d’auteur : General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. BibliothèqueDownload date: Universitaire 10. oct.. 2021 Moretus Plantin University of Namur Department of Geology Institute of Life, Earth and Environment Taphonomy of fossil integumentary structures and bones from Ornithodira: Chemical composition and modes of preservation Thesis submitted for the fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Sciences Members of the Jury: Prof. J. Yans (UNamur) (supervisor), P.Godefroit (RBINS) (supervisor), V. Debaille (ULB), G. Garcia (Univ. Poitiers), V. Hallet (UNamur), M. McNamara (UCC), G. Terwagne (UNamur) Aude Cincotta – December 2017 Cover graphic design: © Presses universitaires de Namur Cover picture: reconstructions of: Tupandactylus imperator; Anchiornis huxleyi, by M. A. DiGiorgio; Serikornis sungei, by E. Willoughby; Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus, by J. Dos Remedios, photo: T. Hubin. © Presses universitaires de Namur & A. Cincotta Rempart de la Vierge, 13 B - 5000 Namur (Belgium) Any reproduction of any part of this book, outside the restrictive limits provided for by law, by any process whatsoever, and in particular by photocopying or scanning, is strictly prohibited for all countries. Printed in Belgium ISBN: 978-2-87037-999-8 Legal deposit: 12/2017/1881/45 CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS..…………………………………..…..vii LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………..……..…xi LIST OF TABLES………………………………………….…..xvii INTRODUCTION………………………………..………………..1 STATE OF THE ART…………………………………………..…7 METHODOLOGY……………………………………………….23 SECTION I Morphology and chemical taphonomy of feathers from the paravian dinosaurs Anchiornis huxleyi and Serikornis sungei, and primitive feathers from the neornithischian dinosaur Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus. CHAPTER 1— Molecular composition and ultrastructure of Jurassic paravian feathers…………….…..................................................................43 Johan Lindgren, Peter Sjövall, Ryan M. Carney, Aude Cincotta, Per Uvdal, Steven W. Hutcheson, Ola Gustafsson, Ulysse Lefèvre, François Escuillié, Jimmy Heimdal, Anders Engdahl, Johan A. Gren, Benjamin P. Kear, Kazumasa Wakamatsu, Johan Yans & Pascal Godefroit Published in 2015, Scientific Reports CHAPTER 2— Chemical taphonomy of morphologically well-preserved dinosaur feathers: a multi-technique approach…………….…….…..……75 Aude Cincotta, Thanh Thuy Nguyen Tu, Julien L. Colaux, Guy Terwagne, Sylvie Derenne, Pascal Godefroit, Christelle Anquetil, and Johan Yans To be submitted CHAPTER 3— A new Jurassic theropod from China documents a transitional step in the macrostructure of feathers………………….……..103 Ulysse Lefèvre, Andrea Cau, Aude Cincotta, Dongyu Hu, Anusuya Chinsamy, François Escuillié, and Pascal Godefroit Published in 2017, The Science of Nature CHAPTER 4— Synchrotron micro X-ray fluorescence (μXRF) and absorption spectroscopy (μXANES) suggests the presence of eumelanin pigment in the feathers of Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus (Middle Jurassic of Siberia)………………………………………………….........…………..145 Aude Cincotta, Pascal Godefroit, Johan Yans, and Pierre Guériau To be integrated in a paper v SECTION II Age, taphonomy and deposition setting of bones and soft tissues excavated from the Kulinda locality, Transbaikal region (Russia). CHAPTER 5— A Middle Jurassic age for the neornithischian Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus, the oldest dinosaur with ‘feather-like’ structures from Siberia……………………….…………...………………161 Aude Cincotta, Katerina B. Pestchevitskaya, Sofia M. Sinitsa, Valentina S. Markevich, Vinciane Debaille, Svetlana A. Reshetova, Irina M. Mashchuk, Andrei O. Frolov, Axel Gerdes, Johan Yans, and Pascal Godefroit To be submitted CHAPTER 6— Exceptional preservation of soft tissues in the neornithischian dinosaur Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus (south-eastern Transbaikal, Siberia) and the reconstruction of the depositional environment…………………………………...………..………...………199 Aude Cincotta, Johan Yans, Katerina B. Pestchevitskaya, Irina M. Mashchuk, Andrei O. Frolov, Vinciane Debaille, Sofia M. Sinitsa, Svetlana A. Reshetova, Yuri Bolotsky, and Pascal Godefroit In preparation SECTION III Environmental reconstruction and bone taphonomy of a Late Cretaceous dinosaur locality from south-eastern France (Velaux-La Bastide Neuve). CHAPTER 7— Integrated palaeoenvironmental reconstruction and taphonomy of a unique Upper Cretaceous vertebrate-bearing locality (Velaux, south-eastern France)……………………………....……...……237 Aude Cincotta, Johan Yans, Pascal Godefroit, Géraldine Garcia, Jean Dejax, Mouloud Benammi, Sauveur Amico, and Xavier Valentin Published in 2015, PLoS ONE CONCLUSIONS AND PERSPECTIVES……………………...261 APPENDICES…………………..………………………………269 LITERATURE CITED……………………………………….....287 vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Acknowledging people remains difficult because one should not forget anybody we met during your PhD, which is not easy when our mind is too busy trying to finish the manuscript. That is why, I would filike first to make a general thank you to everyone I met and work with during my PhD thesis. I particularly thank all the people I met during the various conferences I went to. I had so interesting and great moments with you. This PhD thesis would not have been possible without the grant support provided by the “Fonds National pour la Recherche Scientifique”, Thanks to C. Pisani, the director of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, for allowing me to spend four fantastic years collaborating with the Museum. I have learnt that doing a PhD thesis may look like studying the sociology of a specific part of the population, here the researchers…Before beginning my doctoral thesis I could not imagine how dealing with people could, sometimes, be more important than dealing with the thesis itself. I am glad to have overcome both professional and personal issues during these four years. This made me grow up. But I could not have done it without the support of wonderful people: First, I would like to gratefully thank my PhD supervisors, Johan and Pascal, for their implication and the great help they provided throughout these last four years (and even more since my Master thesis). Working at the reunion of geology and palaeontology was a most enriching experience. There are field works I cannot forget, I went to destination I could never imagine to go. The PhD was also a personal adventure that made me a more determined person to do my best to protect and respect the biodiversity. When travelling around the world I have seen breathtaking scenaries, undisturbed wildlife, and I really want it to stay intact. During the various conferences and scientific stays, I met loads of extremely smart, interesting and kind people. I really want to thank them for their warm welcome and availability: Valentina, Eugenia, Maria, Sofia, Svetlana, Johan, Pierre, and Johann. My colleagues have a very special place in my heart, lunchbreaks playing cards constitute cheerful memories, as well as enjoying a drink on a terrasse on sunny days. I would like to thank my fellow players and friends from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences: Jonica, Mona, Sidonie, Marie, Paolo(a) (the worthy inventor of the “rikiki”), Kretch, Cyrille, Olivier, Léonard, Bernard, Zozo (the inventor of the “rakaka”, a slightly modified version of the “rikiki”), Floréal, Stijn (you will probably recognise the non-random order of your names), Thierry, Etienne, Koen, Adriano, vii Nathan, Aldo, Wim, and all the others from the Directorate “Earth and History of Life”. I had so interesting and inspiring discussions about Science but also societal phenomena, with all of you. It was so nice to work in such a friendly atmosphere. A very special thanks to Ulysse, my PhD fellow, with whom I visited China for the first time and learnt (hum…) to use chopsticks. It was so great to share these four years working on feathered stuffs with you. Thomas, Christian, Jean-François, Julien, Stéphane, Thierry L., Thierry H., thank you all for your helpful advices, assistance in lab works and various analyses, great pictures/SEM images, noon joggings, beers, coffees, books, and kindness! Another warm thank you goes to my colleagues from the Departments of Geology and Geography at the University of Namur: Flore, Lorraine, Louise, Sabine, Sam, Colette, Delphine, Elisabeth,