New Feathered Dinosaur Fossil Reveals Independent Evolution of Bird‑Like Flight Adaptations

A nearly complete 57‑centimetre fossil of a feathered dinosaur, discovered by a farmer near Lamadong in Liaoning, China, has been described as a new species, Norellraptor barsboldi. The specimen, dated between 100 and 145 million years ago, shows a suite of flight‑related features—shortened, fused wing bones, a long tail, and plumage—that are also seen in modern birds. However, Ji Qiang and colleagues argue that these similarities arose independently, not from a shared ancestor, because the sequence of anatomical changes differs between microraptorines and birds. The find, published in Nature Communications, underscores that the evolution of flight involved multiple, convergent pathways.