中国科学家首次在琥珀中发现恐龙羽毛化石

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

科学家早已发现了恐龙时代的羽毛，并拥有其印在化石上证据。

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

但这一次是他们首次在琥珀中发现一根由完整的羽毛覆盖的恐龙尾化石。

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.

中国地质大学的古生物学家邢立达领导了这项研究，具体报告发表在《当代生物学》杂志上。

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.

样品本身被称为DIP-V-15103，并以该报告的共同作者的妻子“伊娃”的名字作为其非官方命名。

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.

据《国家地理》介绍，该样品出自缅甸北部克钦邦的一个矿山。基于对其尾巴结构的分析，它可能来自白垩纪时代的一只年轻虚骨龙类恐龙。

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

该样品并不是由邢立达和他的团队挖掘得来的，而是他们从克钦的首府密支那的琥珀市场收集到的。