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(Hooklets) .: Rectrices (Sing, Rectrix) - Contour Feathers, or Pennaceous Feathers

Feathers are composed of a central shaft with barbs and barbules that form vanes on either side. They anchor in the skin via a quill and are non-vascular and non-nervous. There are different types of feathers that serve various functions like contour feathers for shape, down feathers for insulation, and flight feathers for locomotion with long asymmetric vanes on wings and tail. Feathers also provide sensory input, display color from epidermal cells, and create iridescent colors through light refraction.

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28 views

(Hooklets) .: Rectrices (Sing, Rectrix) - Contour Feathers, or Pennaceous Feathers

Feathers are composed of a central shaft with barbs and barbules that form vanes on either side. They anchor in the skin via a quill and are non-vascular and non-nervous. There are different types of feathers that serve various functions like contour feathers for shape, down feathers for insulation, and flight feathers for locomotion with long asymmetric vanes on wings and tail. Feathers also provide sensory input, display color from epidermal cells, and create iridescent colors through light refraction.

Uploaded by

TJ Harris
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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FEATHERS

o principally of the epidermis and the keratinizing system


o laid out along distinctive tracts, termed pterylae, on the surface of the body
o feathers are nonvascular and non-nervous products of the skin
o modern bird feather is built from a tubular central shaft, the rachis, which carries on
either side a vane a series of barbs with interlocking connections termed barbules
(hooklets).
o The rachis and attached vanes constitute the spathe (figure 6.15b).
o The rachis continues proximally as the barbless calamus, or quill, which anchors
the feather to the body and often is moved by attached dermal muscles.
o Flight feathers are long and the vanes asymmetrical about the stiffening rachis;
o flight feathers on the wings are remiges (sing, remix) and those on the tail are
rectrices (sing, rectrix).
Contour feathers, or pennaceous feathers
o cover the body and usually have symmetrical vanes about a rachis.
Down feathers, or plumulaceous feathers
o lack a distinctive rachis and non-interlocking barbs extend out from the calamus as a
fluffy feather important in insulation

Functions of the Feathers:


• Contour feathers aerodynamically shape the surface of the bird.
• Down feathers lie close to the skin as thermal insulation.
• Filoplumes are often specialized for display, and flight feathers constitute the major
aerodynamic surfaces.
• Flight feathers of the wings are a type of contour feather.
- characterized by a long rachis and prominent vanes
• primary function is locomotion
• for insulation
• Most feathers receive sensory stimuli and carry colors for display or courtship.
• chromatophores in the epidermis provide color to the feathers
• light refraction on the feather barbs and barbules creates some of the iridescent colors that
feathers display

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