Paleontologists studying a type of flying dinosaur have discovered that the species actually grew feathers much earlier than was previously thought.

In fact, prior estimates were out by a margin of 70 million years. Pterosaurs, flying reptiles that soared above the ground, are now believed to have feathers after set of fossils was discovered in Mongolia.

An international team of experts found the remains of one of the creatures alongside four different kinds of feathers. It was previously thought that pterosaurs were covered in fur called ‘pycnofibres’ – fundamentally different to bird feathers.

The ‘generally ginger-brown’ feathers were located on the head, neck, body and wings of the reptile.

Researchers from across the world, including the University of Bristol, found the remains on a recent expedition.

They found ‘many examples’ of the feathers – before using high-powered microscopes to examine them.

Baoyu Jiang, Professor at Nanjing University and lead author of the study, said: ‘We went to Inner Mongolia to do fieldwork in the Daohugou Formation.

‘We already knew that the sites had produced excellent specimens of pterosaurs with their pycnofibres preserved and I was sure we could learn more by careful study.’

Dr Maria McNamara of University College Cork, said: ‘Some critics have suggested that actually there is only one simple type of pycnofibre, but our studies show the different feather types are real.

‘We focused on clear areas where the feathers did not overlap and where we could see their structure clearly.

‘They even show fine details of melanosomes, which may have given the fluffy feathers a ginger colour.’

Professor Mike Benton from the University of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences, said: ‘This discovery has amazing implications for our understanding of the origin of feathers, but also for a major time of revolution of life on land.’

‘When feathers arose, about 250 million years ago, life was recovering from the devastating end-Permian mass extinction.

Independent evidence shows that land vertebrates, including the ancestors of mammals and dinosaurs, had switched gait from sprawling to upright, had acquired different degrees of warm-bloodedness, and were generally living life at a faster pace.

The mammal ancestors by then had hair, so likely the pterosaurs, dinosaurs and relatives had also acquired feathers to help insulate them.’