Palaeontologists have named a new feathered dinosaur from north-eastern China, and its beautifully preserved skeleton is reshaping the story of how animals first flew. Smithsonian Magazine reports that Norellraptor barsboldi, a microraptor about 22 inches long, had four wings, a long tail, sharp teeth and claws, and was at least three years old when it died in the Early Cretaceous.
The team compared 194 anatomical features linked to flight. Around 30 per cent were shared with birds, including longer forearm bones and fused wrists, but they appeared in a different order in the two groups. That suggests microraptors and birds reached the air by separate routes, a case of convergent evolution.
Published in Nature Communications, the study supports the view that flight arose at least three times among dinosaurs. Palaeontologist Michael Pittman said it was “arising independently from different, closely-related groups at nearly the same time”.
Source: Smithsonian Magazine