A new helical crossed-fibre structure of β-keratin in flight feathers and its biomechanical implications.

2002).” The independent findings here may be significant from an evolutionary perspective because they present morphological evidence that the syncitial barbule cells, largely indistinguishable from their free form, are found as a major structural component of, in addition to the rachis [4] , the feather barbs.

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Given that previous studies treated the lateral walls of the barbs and rachis as simply thinner versions of the dorsal and ventral walls, we consider a novel architecture of inextensible crossed-fibres in the lateral walls (epicortex) functionally highly significant.

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