Abstract
The avian integument is uniquely characterized by the presence of feathers, whose distribution, structure and development have been reviewed recently on a comparative basis by Lucas and Stettenheim (1972). Brush (1974, 1975, 1980) and Brush and Wyld (1982) have used the biochemical composition of feathers in comparative and evolutionary studies of several bird species. In general, the body of most birds appears covered by feathers with obvious naked areas restricted to the feet, beak, comb and wattle. However, as discussed by Lucas and Stettenheim (1972) and Stettenheim (1972) feathers occur in tracts (pterylae) on most birds, which are separated by naked regions of skin known as apteria. The apteria may exist within individual feather tracts as the naked skin between feathers or between pterylae. In the developing chicken skin, Sengel (1976) distinguished two types of apteric regions; one which is entirely devoid of feathers (for example, the midventral apterium) and one which develops a few loosely distributed down feathers (for example, the apterium between the breast and ventral pterylae). This distinction is of importance in developmental studies where one is interested in the control of appendage formation. In a later section we will discuss some of the more recent findings on the development and structure of feathers, with special reference to the localization of keratins with indirect immunofluorescence, using non-cross-reacting antisera to both α -and ß-(feather) keratins.
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Sawyer, R.H., Knapp, L.W., O’Guin, W.M. (1986). Epidermis, Dermis and Appendages. In: Bereiter-Hahn, J., Matoltsy, A.G., Richards, K.S. (eds) Biology of the Integument. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-00989-5_11
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