中國科學家首次在琥珀中發現恐龍羽毛化石

Scientists have found dinosaur-era feathers and evidence of them in fossil impressions before.

科學家早已發現了恐龍時代的羽毛，並擁有其印在化石上證據。

But this is the first time they've discovered a full-feathered tail section preserved in amber.

但這一次是他們首次在琥珀中發現一根由完整的羽毛覆蓋的恐龍尾化石。

Paleontologist Lida Xing of the China University of Geosciences led the research, as detailed in a report that came out in the journal Current Biology.

中國地質大學的古生物學家邢立達領導了這項研究，具體報告發表在《當代生物學》雜誌上。

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The sample itself, known as DIP-V-15103 and unofficially as "Eva" after the wife of the report's co-author, came from a mine in Kachin, a state in northern Myanmar.

樣品本身被稱爲DIP-V-15103，並以該報告的共同作者的妻子“伊娃”的名字作爲其非官方命名。

Based on the structure of the tail, it likely came from a Cretaceous-era young coelurasaur, a subgroup of therapods that includes everything from tyrannosauruses to birds, points out National Geographic.

據《國家地理》介紹，該樣品出自緬甸北部克欽邦的一個礦山。基於對其尾巴結構的分析，它可能來自白堊紀時代的一隻年輕虛骨龍類恐龍。

Xing and his team didn't dig the sample up, however -- they collected it from an amber market in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin.

該樣品並不是由邢立達和他的團隊挖掘得來的，而是他們從克欽的首府密支那的琥珀市場收集到的。