Discovery of four-winged Dinosaur fossil in China
Chine unearthed another gem in the form of a four winged dinosaur , Anchiornis huxleyi. Its dated to the Late Jurassic period, 151-161 million years ago making it oldest winged species, the 150-million-year-old Archaeopteryx lithographica, found more than a century ago in Germany. Hence this new discovery of the oldest known bird, provides more hard evidence that birds evolved from dinosaurs.
Chinese scientists discovered five remarkable new feathered dinosaur fossils from two separate areas, named the Tiaojishan and Daohugou formations. Comparison of the Tiaojishan and Daohugou fossils suggests that they probably all belong to the same fauna. The isotopic dates range from 168 to 151 million years old for the Tiaojishan and 164 to 158 million years for the Daohugou Formation.
These four-winged dinosaurs also had feathers on their feet and wings could be found on the arms and legs. But they are regarded as poor fliers who could only glide.The discovery will be published in Nature next week, but the team presented the find and several similar species at the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology this week in Bristol, UK.
“This fossil provides confirmation that the bird-dinosaur hypothesis is correct and supports the idea that birds descended from theropod dinosaurs, the group of predatory dinosaurs that include Allosaurus and Velociraptor”, — Xu.
Reference:
Hu, D. , Hou, L. , Zhang, L. & Xu, X. Nature 461, 640-643 (2009).
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