Remarkably preserved feathered dinosaur discovered in China reveals new secrets of flying predator evolution

Norellraptor barsboldi, a four-winged predator just 57 centimetres long, was described on 29 September in Nature Communications from an exceptionally well-preserved fossil found in northeastern China. Tracing 194 anatomical changes, the team found microraptors reached bird-like flight features by a different route than birds did, evidence that flapping flight evolved more than once.