Changyuraptor Yangi
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''Changyuraptor'' is a genus of "four-winged", predatory
dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...
s. It is known from a single
fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...
specimen representing the species ''Changyuraptor yangi'', which was discovered from
Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronology, geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphy, chronostratigraphic name) is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 143.1 ...
(125 million year old) deposits in
Liaoning Province ) , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Palace in Shenyang, Xinghai Square in Dalian, Dalian coast, Yalu River at Dandong , image_map = Liaoning in China (+all claims hatched).svg , ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. ''C. yangi'' belongs to the group of
dromaeosaur Dromaeosauridae () is a family of feathered coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs. They were generally small to medium-sized feathered carnivores that flourished in the Cretaceous Period. The name Dromaeosauridae means 'running lizards', from Gr ...
id
theropod Theropoda (; from ancient Greek , (''therion'') "wild beast"; , (''pous, podos'') "foot"">wiktionary:ποδός"> (''pous, podos'') "foot" is one of the three major groups (clades) of dinosaurs, alongside Ornithischia and Sauropodom ...
dinosaurs called the
Microraptoria Microraptoria (Greek, μίκρος, ''mīkros'': "small"; Latin, ''raptor'': "one who seizes") is a clade of basal Dromaeosauridae, dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaurs. Definitive microraptorians lived during the Barremian to Aptian stages of the Ear ...
. At the time of its discovery, ''C. yangi'' was the largest four-winged dinosaur known and among the largest Mesozoic flying paravians, volant true birds seldom approaching its size.Nicholas R. Longrich; David M. Martill; Brian Andres (2018). "Late Maastrichtian pterosaurs from North Africa and mass extinction of Pterosauria at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary". PLOS Biology. 16 (3): e2001663.


Description

Analysis of the fossil at the
University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...
, South Africa reveals that the specimen was a fully grown adult, approximately long and estimated to weigh , roughly the size of a
turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
. These dimensions make ''Changyuraptor'' the largest four-winged microraptorine known, exceeding previously known specimens in size by at least 60%. Like other microraptorines, ''Changyuraptor'' had feathers all over its body, including forelimbs and hindlimbs, which gives the appearance of having two pairs of wings. The presence of long feathers on all four limbs also suggests that these dinosaurs could fly. The dinosaur's tail is long and feathered, with end feathers up to long, equalling approximately 30% of the length of the animal's skeleton. This length exceeds the previous record length of for feathers from non-avian dinosaurs. The elongated tail feathers are thought to have helped provide softer and safer landings. They could have controlled pitch, a feature useful for a heavier animal, that would have attained a faster gliding speed. While elongated feathers on the hindlimbs were present in many early birds, such as ''
Archaeopteryx ''Archaeopteryx'' (; ), sometimes referred to by its German name, "" ( ''Primeval Bird'') is a genus of bird-like dinosaurs. The name derives from the ancient Greek (''archaîos''), meaning "ancient", and (''ptéryx''), meaning "feather" ...
'', the morphology of microraptorines suggests a different aerodynamic model from that of modern birds, which have characteristically bald legs and exhibit stable flight using two wings only. ''Changyuraptor'' is thought to have existed alongside a variety of predatory and herbivorous dinosaurs of the Jehol Biota, including ''
Yutyrannus ''Yutyrannus'' (meaning "feathered tyrant") is a genus of proceratosaurid tyrannosauroid dinosaur which contains a single known species, ''Yutyrannus huali''. This species lived during the early Cretaceous period in what is now northeastern Ch ...
'', in moist temperate forest, primarily vegetated by ginkgos and conifers, with hot, dry summers and frosty winters.


Discovery

The fossil,
holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...
HG B016, was discovered by farmers near Xijianchang in the
Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronology, geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphy, chronostratigraphic name) is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 143.1 ...
fossil deposits, the
Yixian Formation The Yixian Formation (; formerly Romanization of Chinese, transcribed as Yihsien Formation or Yixiang Formation) is a geological formation in Jinzhou, Liaoning, People's Republic of China, that spans the Barremian stage of the Early Cretaceous. I ...
, of the
Jehol Biota The Jehol Biota includes all the living organisms – the ecosystem – of northeastern China between 133 and 120 million years ago. This is the Lower Cretaceous ecosystem which left fossils in the Yixian Formation and Jiufotang Formation. These d ...
, located in the
Liaoning ) , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Palace in Shenyang, Xinghai Square in Dalian, Dalian coast, Yalu River at Dandong , image_map = Liaoning in China (+all claims hatched).svg , ...
province of China. From 2012 it was studied by an international team of scientists led by Dr.
Luis Chiappe Luis María Chiappe (born 18 June 1962) is an Argentine paleontologist born in Buenos Aires who is best known for his discovery of the first sauropod nesting sites in the badlands of Patagonia in 1997 and for his work on the origin and early evol ...
, Director of the Dinosaur Institute Department at the
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the laws, elements and phenomena of the physical world, including life. Although humans are par ...
. The holotype consists of a rather complete skeleton with skull, compressed on a plate and counterplate. It shows extensive remains of the
integument In biology, an integument is the tissue surrounding an organism's body or an organ within, such as skin, a husk, Exoskeleton, shell, germ or Peel (fruit), rind. Etymology The term is derived from ''integumentum'', which is Latin for "a coverin ...
in the form of
pennaceous feather The pennaceous feather is a type of feather present in most modern birds and in some other species of maniraptoriform dinosaurs. Description A pennaceous feather has a stalk or quill. Its basal part, called a ''calamus'', is embedded in the sk ...
s. In 2014, the specimen was described as the new genus and species ''Changyuraptor yangi''. The generic name of the dinosaur combines the Chinese words for "long feather", 長羽 (''cháng yǔ''), with
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
''raptor'' ("robber", "seizer"). The
specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...
honours researcher Professor Yang Yandong. The Jehol Biota are found in the richest fossil beds for feathered dinosaurs in the world which have yielded notable species such as ''
Yutyrannus huali ''Yutyrannus'' (meaning "feathered tyrant") is a genus of proceratosaurid tyrannosauroid dinosaur which contains a single known species, ''Yutyrannus huali''. This species lived during the early Cretaceous period in what is now northeastern Chi ...
'', a feathered tyrannosauroid with a length of and the largest feathered dinosaur known to date. In 2003 ''
Microraptor ''Microraptor'' (Greek language, Greek, μικρός, ''mīkros'': "small"; Latin language, Latin, ''raptor'': "one who seizes") is a genus of small, four-winged dromaeosaurid dinosaurs. Numerous well-preserved fossil specimens have been recovere ...
'', a raven-sized dinosaur, approximately in weight, was the first of the microraptorines to be discovered. It shared with species such as ''
Anchiornis ''Anchiornis'' is a genus of small, four-winged Paraves, paravian dinosaurs, with only one known species, the type species ''Anchiornis huxleyi'', named for its similarity to modern birds. The Latin name ''Anchiornis'' derives from a Greek word m ...
'' and ''
Xiaotingia ''Xiaotingia'' is a genus of Paraves, paravian theropod dinosaur, possibly an Anchiornithidae, anchiornithid, from Middle Jurassic or early Late Jurassic deposits of western Liaoning, China. It contains a single species, ''Xiaotingia zhengi''. D ...
'' large feathered limbs and elongated bony tails with long tail feathers. These features caused experts to hypothesize that miniaturisation was an essential evolutionary step to enable flight. ''Changyuraptors larger size and weight contradicts that hypothesis. ''Changyuraptor'' is also the second four-winged dinosaur to be discovered after ''Microraptor''. ''Changyuraptor'' and other microraptorines add to the evidence that dinosaurs had evolved a host of morphological features and behaviours such as feathers, hollow bones, nesting behaviour, and possibly flight, before they evolved in birds.


See also

*
Timeline of dromaeosaurid research This timeline of dromaeosaurid research is a chronological listing of events in the history of paleontology focused on the dromaeosaurids, a group of sickle-clawed, bird-like theropod dinosaurs including animals like ''Velociraptor''. Since the ...


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17363721 Microraptoria Dinosaur genera Barremian dinosaurs Yixian Formation Fossil taxa described in 2014 Taxa named by Luis M. Chiappe Dinosaurs of China Feathered dinosaurs