<p><em>Keep in mind that although I am a paleontologist, I am not a vertebrate paleontologist so I might not be aware of every single find ever made of feathered dinosaur.</em>  </p>

<p>As far as I can tell, all dinosaurs fossils exhibiting feathers belong to the Theropoda. Here is a (probably dated) phylogeny of dinosaurs from <strong>Sereno 1999</strong>:</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/GxsO1.jpg" alt="Phylogeny of Dinosaurs by Paul Sereno, 1999, published in Science.">
<sub>Credit: Paul C. Sereno</sub></p>

<p>Theropoda is the group from <em>Eoraptor</em> to Euornithes. </p>

<p>While <em>Eoraptor</em>  is Triassic, the group diversifies mostly during the Jurassic (still <strong>Sereno 1999</strong>) and it is also during that time that we start having "common" feathered dinosaur fossil evidence (e.g. <strong>Zhang et al. 2008, Sullivan et al. 2014</strong>).<br>
Birds (Aves) seem to have appeared in the late Jurassic / early Cretaceous as well, but modern birds (Neornithes), i. e. birds with living representative, appeared only in the late Cretaceous.  </p>

<p>I don't know of any proper (sample-standardized, with coherent bias detection and removal) paleodiversity study for the theropods, although there is one for Aves (<strong>Brocklehurst et al. 2012</strong>), so it's hard to discuss about it at a species level.</p>

<p>In theory, feathers are more likely to fossilize than other soft tissue (<strong>Davis &amp; Briggs 1995</strong>) but in practice they are mostly found in finely grained sediments such as limestones, thus limiting the amount of outcrops in which they can be found.</p>

<p><sub>Sources:<br>
Brocklehurst, N., Upchurch, P., Mannion, P. D., O'Connor, J., 2012. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0039056" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The Completeness of the Fossil Record of Mesozoic Birds: Implications for Early Avian Evolution</a>. PLoS ONE 7(6): e39056.<br>
Davis, P. G., Briggs, D. E. G., 1995. <a href="http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/23/9/783.short" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fossilization of feathers.</a> Geology, 23(9): 783-786.<br>
Sereno, P., 1999. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.284.5423.2137" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The evolution of Dinosaurs.</a> Science, 284: 2137-2147.<br>
Sullivan, C. <em>et al.</em> 2014. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2013.787316" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The vertebrates of the Jurassic Daohugou Biota of northeastern China.</a> Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 34: 243-280.<br>
Zhang, F. <em>et al.</em>  2008. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature07447" rel="nofollow noreferrer">A bizarre Jurassic maniraptoran from China with elongate ribbon-like feathers.</a> Nature, 455: 1105-1108.</p>

<p></sub></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-21T11:12:40.517Z
Additionally i d like to point out that i intentionally didn't give an answer on the "evolutionary process that led to the apparition of feathers" but i focussed only on what was the fossil record of feathered dinosaurs.
plannapus
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-21T12:57:13.027Z
It would be cool if someone had the time to edit the image to highlight which groups were feathered (it's just the four at the bottom left, right?). Also, some of those area species, and some are larger groups (genera?), and it would be interesting to add some info on how many known species were in each of the latter, if that information exists.
naught101
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-21T13:04:27.527Z
As a matter of fact *Sinosauropteryx*  is a feathered dinosaur and is a Compsognathidae, so this is possible that the whole group from node 49 on was/is feathered. As for the number of species: there are too many of them for a single non-specialist to make up a complete list of them. And given the very gappy fossil record of dinosaurs, that wouldn't be very informative anyhow.
plannapus
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-21T13:19:59.030Z
I wouldn't dare making an exhaustive list of families including feathered specimens either but i think apart from the Compsognathidae, they are [Troodontidae](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v461/n7264/abs/nature08322.html), [Dromaeosauridae](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v416/n6876/pdf/416036a.pdf), Oviraptorosaurid (i think?), [Tyrannosauroidae](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v484/n7392/pdf/nature10906.pdf),... specimens bearing feathers (or "feather-like" teguments).
plannapus
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2014-04-21T09:53:28.927Z
2014-11-20T13:29:48.103Z
2014-11-20T13:29:48.103Z
plannapus
<p>More and more evidence of fossilized dinosaurs with feathers are appearing. Did many dinosaurs have feathers and did this change during the Mesozoic?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-20T23:08:56.277Z
@naught101: I changed the thrust of "how many" to "did many" to address your point and make the question more answerable. Also, I consider "fossils" on topic even if "dinosaurs" might not be.
Tom Au
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2014-04-21T10:56:23.840Z
The question is off topic on ES and should be migrated to http://biology.stackexchange.com.
BHF
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2014-05-01T03:12:07.217Z
@BHF Relevant [meta discussion](http://meta.earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/88/when-are-paleontology-questions-on-topic).
hichris123
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-17T17:38:38.180Z
So all palaeontology (apart from biostratigraphy maybe?) questions should be asked at biology stack? I can live with that.
tobias47n9e
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-17T18:01:24.807Z
Is that policy? I was thinking of posting a question about the Ediacara - more of an evolutionary question than biostrat.
winwaed
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-17T18:15:18.173Z
The comment I replied to has disappeared. I think it would be best to decide for each question what the best place to ask it is.
tobias47n9e
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-17T18:32:33.877Z
If I may, Palaeontology is a field where you can come at it from both ends, biologists studying the anatomy and speciation, geologists studying the formation of fossils, special preservation conditions and stratigraphy, not to mention the blurred line that is palaeo-climate studies using forams/diatoms etc. I would argue a case-by-case basis is fair, but apart from a trained palaeontologist, who will make a fair judgement call on that? That said I'm new to SE.
Ben Brooks
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-18T01:05:04.450Z
I think the "what percentage" part of this question makes it unanswerable. It's the same as "what percentage of modern land vertebrates have feathers" - percentage of individuals? Percentage of species? If the later, [how do you define species](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species#Biologists.27_working_definition)? Even if it's the number of species, this question still seems to lack anything more than random idle curiosity as a driving force...
naught101
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-18T01:11:12.480Z
See the meta discussion [When are paleontology questions on-topic?](http://meta.earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/88/when-are-paleontology-questions-on-topic)
naught101
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-18T07:36:32.587Z
In that particular case, it is mostly a question of evolutionary biology but also a question of taphonomy (because of feathers preservation) and i would believe taphonomy to pertain to the geosciences more than to biology.
plannapus
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-18T07:36:57.210Z
But to answer to it: at this point there is only evidence of feathers in Theropoda as far as I know.
plannapus
<paleontology>
Were dinosaurs with feathers common?
tobias47n9e
# Were dinosaurs with feathers common?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-04-17)

More and more evidence of fossilized dinosaurs with feathers are appearing. Did many dinosaurs have feathers and did this change during the Mesozoic?

**Tags:** paleontology

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: So all palaeontology (apart from biostratigraphy maybe?) questions should be asked at biology stack? I can live with that.  
> **username_4**: Is that policy? I was thinking of posting a question about the Ediacara - more of an evolutionary question than biostrat.  
> **username_0**: The comment I replied to has disappeared. I think it would be best to decide for each question what the best place to ask it is.  
> **username_5**: If I may, Palaeontology is a field where you can come at it from both ends, biologists studying the anatomy and speciation, geologists studying the formation of fossils, special preservation conditions and stratigraphy, not to mention the blurred line that is palaeo-climate studies using forams/diatoms etc. I would argue a case-by-case basis is fair, but apart from a trained palaeontologist, who will make a fair judgement call on that? That said I'm new to SE.  
> **username_6**: I think the "what percentage" part of this question makes it unanswerable. It's the same as "what percentage of modern land vertebrates have feathers" - percentage of individuals? Percentage of species? If the later, [how do you define species](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species#Biologists.27_working_definition)? Even if it's the number of species, this question still seems to lack anything more than random idle curiosity as a driving force...  
> **username_6**: See the meta discussion [When are paleontology questions on-topic?](http://meta.earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/88/when-are-paleontology-questions-on-topic)  
> **username_7**: In that particular case, it is mostly a question of evolutionary biology but also a question of taphonomy (because of feathers preservation) and i would believe taphonomy to pertain to the geosciences more than to biology.  
> **username_7**: But to answer to it: at this point there is only evidence of feathers in Theropoda as far as I know.  
> **username_1**: @username_6: I changed the thrust of "how many" to "did many" to address your point and make the question more answerable. Also, I consider "fossils" on topic even if "dinosaurs" might not be.  
> **username_2**: The question is off topic on ES and should be migrated to http://biology.stackexchange.com.  
> **username_3**: @username_2 Relevant [meta discussion](http://meta.earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/88/when-are-paleontology-questions-on-topic).  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_7 on 2014-04-21. Score: 9 | Accepted answer

*Keep in mind that although I am a paleontologist, I am not a vertebrate paleontologist so I might not be aware of every single find ever made of feathered dinosaur.*

As far as I can tell, all dinosaurs fossils exhibiting feathers belong to the Theropoda. Here is a (probably dated) phylogeny of dinosaurs from **Sereno 1999**:

![Phylogeny of Dinosaurs by Paul Sereno, 1999, published in Science.](https://i.sstatic.net/GxsO1.jpg)
Credit: Paul C. Sereno

Theropoda is the group from *Eoraptor* to Euornithes.

While *Eoraptor* is Triassic, the group diversifies mostly during the Jurassic (still **Sereno 1999**) and it is also during that time that we start having "common" feathered dinosaur fossil evidence (e.g. **Zhang et al. 2008, Sullivan et al. 2014**).  
Birds (Aves) seem to have appeared in the late Jurassic / early Cretaceous as well, but modern birds (Neornithes), i. e. birds with living representative, appeared only in the late Cretaceous.

I don't know of any proper (sample-standardized, with coherent bias detection and removal) paleodiversity study for the theropods, although there is one for Aves (**Brocklehurst et al. 2012**), so it's hard to discuss about it at a species level.

In theory, feathers are more likely to fossilize than other soft tissue (**Davis & Briggs 1995**) but in practice they are mostly found in finely grained sediments such as limestones, thus limiting the amount of outcrops in which they can be found.

Sources:  
Brocklehurst, N., Upchurch, P., Mannion, P. D., O'Connor, J., 2012. [The Completeness of the Fossil Record of Mesozoic Birds: Implications for Early Avian Evolution](http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0039056). PLoS ONE 7(6): e39056.  
Davis, P. G., Briggs, D. E. G., 1995. [Fossilization of feathers.](http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/23/9/783.short) Geology, 23(9): 783-786.  
Sereno, P., 1999. [The evolution of Dinosaurs.](http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.284.5423.2137) Science, 284: 2137-2147.  
Sullivan, C. *et al.* 2014. [The vertebrates of the Jurassic Daohugou Biota of northeastern China.](http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2013.787316) Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 34: 243-280.  
Zhang, F. *et al.* 2008. [A bizarre Jurassic maniraptoran from China with elongate ribbon-like feathers.](http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature07447) Nature, 455: 1105-1108.

> **Comments:**
> **username_7**: Additionally i d like to point out that i intentionally didn't give an answer on the "evolutionary process that led to the apparition of feathers" but i focussed only on what was the fossil record of feathered dinosaurs.  
> **username_6**: It would be cool if someone had the time to edit the image to highlight which groups were feathered (it's just the four at the bottom left, right?). Also, some of those area species, and some are larger groups (genera?), and it would be interesting to add some info on how many known species were in each of the latter, if that information exists.  
> **username_7**: As a matter of fact *Sinosauropteryx*  is a feathered dinosaur and is a Compsognathidae, so this is possible that the whole group from node 49 on was/is feathered. As for the number of species: there are too many of them for a single non-specialist to make up a complete list of them. And given the very gappy fossil record of dinosaurs, that wouldn't be very informative anyhow.  
> **username_7**: I wouldn't dare making an exhaustive list of families including feathered specimens either but i think apart from the Compsognathidae, they are [Troodontidae](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v461/n7264/abs/nature08322.html), [Dromaeosauridae](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v416/n6876/pdf/416036a.pdf), Oviraptorosaurid (i think?), [Tyrannosauroidae](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v484/n7392/pdf/nature10906.pdf),... specimens bearing feathers (or "feather-like" teguments).  

---

