Feathered Dinosaur From China Points to Another Path to Flight

Researchers have identified a new species of feathered dinosaur from northeastern China whose anatomy suggests that birds and their close dinosaur relatives developed flight-related features along separate evolutionary paths.

The fossil — a nearly complete 57-centimeter skeleton with some feathers preserved — dates to the Early Cretaceous, more than 100 million years ago. Discovered by a local farmer in Liaoning province’s Jianchang County, it was donated to Hebei Geo University’s museum in 2023.

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences and Hebei Geo University, working with colleagues from around the world, named the species Norellraptor barsboldi in a study published Sept. 29 in the journal Nature Communications.

The fossil adds evidence to a long-running debate over whether birds and their close dinosaur relatives inherited flight-related anatomy from a common ancestor or developed it separately.