United States and South Africa has described a new species of a feathered dinosaur that lived in what is now north-eastern China during the Cretaceous period, about 125 million years ago.
The new dinosaur, named Changyuraptor
yangi, belongs to Microraptoria a specific group of predatory four-winged raptorial dinosaurs. These dinosaurs are dubbed ‘four-winged’ because the long feathers attached to the legs have the appearance of a second set of wings. The long feathers attached to the legs and arms of these creatures have led some scientists to propose that the four-winged dinosaurs were capable of flying.
At 1.3-meter-long, Changyuraptor yangi is
the biggest of all four-winged dinosaurs.
Its well-preserved fossil was unearthed in
the Liaoning Province of north-eastern
China. According to a paper published in the
journal Nature Communications, Changyuraptor yangi sported a full set of
feathers cloaking its entire body, including
the extra-long tail feathers. “At a foot in length, the amazing tail feathers of Changyuraptor yangi are by far the longest of any feathered dinosaurs, " said Co-author Dr Luiz Chiappe From the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
The paleontologists believe that the discovery consolidates the notion that flight preceded the origin of birds, being inherited by the latter from their dinosaurian forerunners.
Co-author Dr Alan Turner of Stony Brook
University said: “numerous features that we
have long associated with birds in fact evolved in dinosaurs long before the first
birds arrived on the scene. This includes
things such as hollow bones, nesting behaviour, feathers and possibly flight.” “How well these creatures used the sky as a thoroughfare has remained controversial.
The new discovery explains the role that the
tail feathers played during flight control. For
larger flyers, safe landings are of particular
importance.” “It makes sense that the largest
microraptorines had especially large tail
feathers – they would have needed the
additional control,” explained co-author Dr
Michael Habib from the University of
Southern California.
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