title: Comment on "A Jurassic ornithischian dinosaur from Siberia with both feathers and scales".
abstract: Godefroit et al. (Reports, 25 July 2014, p. 451) reported scales and feathers, including "basal plates," in an ornithischian dinosaur. Their arguments against the filaments being collagen fibers are not supported because of a fundamental misinterpretation of such structures and underestimation of their size. The parsimonious explanation is that the filaments are support fibers in association with badly degraded scales and that they do not represent early feather stages.
authors.affiliation: Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
authors.forename: Theagarten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lingham-Soliar
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D025061:Dinosaurs / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D004817:Epidermis / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005241:Feathers / Q000033:anatomy & histology*