Lacking Belief in Feathered Pterosaurs

Sometimes people are a mite casual in their use of the word dinosaur, using it to mean woolly mammoths, sauropods, plesiosaurs, pterosaurs, and so on. It is easy group them all together, though, because they lived at the same time.

Credit: Flickr / theilr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Many believers in dust-to-dinosaur evolution insist that certain dinosaurs evolved into birds. They tend to "see" signs of feathers in fossils, ignoring other (and more reasonable) explanations. Some extravagant claims have been made regarding filaments on pterosaurs, and then unwarranted guesswork was passed off as science. What's a Darwin devotee to do when the same things are not unique to pterosaurs, but are found in dinosaur fossils as well as carcasses of marine reptiles, sharks, and the like? It would be helpful to admit that the Creator made these things, and to stop pretending that they are looking at skin collagen, not protofeathers.

In December 2018, researchers claimed to have found featherlike structures in two specimens of pterosaurs.1 These appendages, called pycnofibres when found in pterosaurs, were said to resemble non-vaned group filaments and bilaterally branched filaments—structures previously thought to be unique to maniraptoran dinosaurs and which have been previously used as evidence that some dinosaurs had feathers. The researchers claim that these pycnofibres are diagnostic of feathers. However, of the four types of pycnofibres they identified in one pterosaur, three were said to be similar to ‘protofeathers’ previously thought to be unique to unrelated groups of dinosaurs. But why would all these diverse dinosaur ‘protofeather’ types be present in one single pterosaur specimen? This paper compares decayed collagen fibres in marine fossils to these pterosaur ‘pycnofibres’ and suggests that these integumentary structures are identical. But if these pterosaur ‘pycnofibres’ are nothing more than decayed collagen fibres, so too are the three types of dinosaur ‘protofeathers’ associated with it. This presents a challenge for those who choose to interpret ‘dino fuzz’ as evidence of feathered dinosaurs.

To read the rest of this very interesting, annoying (to evolutionists), and informative article, see "Feathered pterosaurs: ruffling the feathers of dinosaur evolution". You may also be interested in Dr. Jerry Bergman's article, "Pterosaur Feathers: Another Myth Exploded".