Pennaceous feather
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This is the current revision of Pennaceous feather as edited by Pegship (Talk | contribs) at 23:34, 20 November 2007. This URL is a permanent link to this version of this page.
Pennaceous feathers are also known as contour feathers and are present in most modern birds and in some species of maniraptoran dinosaurs.
Pennaceous feathers have a central shaft (or rachis) with vanes branching off to either side. These vanes are also called Barbs, that are connected to one another with Barbules, tiny strands that criss-cross to form a kind of mesh that holds all the barbs together and with each other. Remiges and rectrices are specialized types of pennaceous feathers.
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