在几种羊膜动物谱系的化石外皮附属物中发现了保留的黑色素色素(鱼类,青蛙,蛇,海洋爬行动物,非鸟类恐龙,鸟,和哺乳动物)从全球各地的lagerstätten发掘。黑化是这些化石中有机外皮保存的主要因素。现存的脊椎动物中的黑色素通常储存在棒状到球形中,溶酶体衍生的,膜结合的囊泡称为黑色素体。黑色,深棕色,灰色是由真黑素产生的,和红棕色是由phaeomelanin产生的。黑色素的特定形态类型和纳米结构排列及其与角质附肢中角蛋白基质的关系产生了所谓的“结构颜色”。重建古代动物的颜色图案为研究它们的生活开辟了一条令人兴奋的新途径,行为和生态。现代关系的形状,安排,鸟类黑色素体的大小,黑色素化学,和羽毛颜色已用于重建恐龙Anchiornis的孤立羽毛和羽毛的色调和颜色图案,中华翼龙,和Microraptor在开创古色彩重建领域的开创性论文中。从那以后,进一步的研究已经确定了反阴影伪装模式,并对这些灭绝动物的生态和行为进行了后续预测。然而,古色彩重建仍然是一个新生的领域,当前的方法具有进一步完善的巨大潜力,标准化,和扩张。这包括对可能保存在化石表皮中的非黑色素的详细研究。在现有的古色彩研究中,一个共同的问题是缺乏对不同证据的语境化以及当前使用的各种技术。为此,这篇综述集中在化石羊膜:(i)产生了一个总体框架,通过考虑各种色素的化学特征来适当地重建古颜色,色素囊泡的形态和局部排列,色素浓度,宏观颜色图案,和taphonomy;(ii)为颜色产生机制的演变提供背景背景;(iii)鼓励未来在古色彩重建方面的努力,特别是对研究较少的群体,例如非恐龙恐龙和非恐龙羊膜。
Preserved melanin pigments have been discovered in fossilised integumentary appendages of several amniote lineages (fishes, frogs, snakes, marine reptiles, non-avialan dinosaurs, birds, and mammals) excavated from lagerstätten across the globe. Melanisation is a leading factor in organic integument preservation in these fossils. Melanin in extant vertebrates is typically stored in rod- to sphere-shaped, lysosome-derived, membrane-bound vesicles called melanosomes. Black, dark brown, and grey colours are produced by eumelanin, and reddish-brown colours are produced by phaeomelanin. Specific morphotypes and nanostructural arrangements of melanosomes and their relation to the keratin matrix in integumentary appendages create the so-called \'structural colours\'. Reconstruction of colour patterns in ancient animals has opened an exciting new avenue for studying their life, behaviour and ecology. Modern relationships between the shape, arrangement, and size of avian melanosomes, melanin chemistry, and feather colour have been applied to reconstruct the hues and colour patterns of isolated feathers and plumages of the dinosaurs Anchiornis, Sinosauropteryx, and Microraptor in seminal papers that initiated the field of palaeocolour reconstruction. Since then, further research has identified countershading camouflage patterns, and informed subsequent predictions on the ecology and behaviour of these extinct animals. However, palaeocolour reconstruction remains a nascent field, and current approaches have considerable potential for further refinement, standardisation, and expansion. This includes detailed study of non-melanic pigments that might be preserved in fossilised integuments. A common issue among existing palaeocolour studies is the lack of contextualisation of different lines of evidence and the wide variety of techniques currently employed. To that end, this review focused on fossil amniotes: (i) produces an overarching framework that appropriately reconstructs palaeocolour by accounting for the chemical signatures of various pigments, morphology and local arrangement of pigment-bearing vesicles, pigment concentration, macroscopic colour patterns, and
taphonomy; (ii) provides background context for the evolution of colour-producing mechanisms; and (iii) encourages future efforts in palaeocolour reconstructions particularly of less-studied groups such as non-dinosaur archosaurs and non-archosaur amniotes.