4-winged fossil found in Liaoning challenges single origin of dinosaur flight

What it is about

Who published it, and when

How it spread - 9 original reports

1. Tue, 29 September 2026

   2 reports
   • ABC (Spain)15:00first to report
     Un nuevo dinosaurio volador reescribe la historia del origen de las aves

     Hubo un tiempo, hace más de 100 millones de años, en que volar no era más que un experimento. No había pájaros modernos surcando los cielos, ni tampoco murciélagos. Pero había, eso sí, pequeños dinosaurios cubiertos de plumas que ensayaban soluciones distintas: alas en los brazos, plumas largas en las patas, colas convertidas en superficies aerodinámicas... La evolución probaba distintas posibilidades.Durante más de un siglo, la ciencia ha dado por sentado que el vuelo de las aves fue un...

   • El País (Spain)15:00
     Una nueva especie de dinosaurio plumífero sugiere que distintas especies conquistaron el vuelo por separado

     El hallazgo del ‘Norellraptor barsboldi’ añade pruebas para reforzar la teoría de que la capacidad de volar surgió de forma independiente en las aves primitivas y otros dinosaurios

2. Wed, 30 September 2026

   1 report
   • South China Morning Post09:00
     4-winged fossil found in Liaoning challenges single origin of dinosaur flight

     Scientists have unveiled an exceptionally well-preserved 100-million-year-old fossil of a small, feathered dinosaur in northeastern China that could reshape our understanding of how dinosaurs took to the skies. The newly discovered species, named Norellraptor barsboldi, is a four-winged predatory dinosaur measuring 57cm (22 inches) long. Belonging to the microraptorines – small dinosaurs with feathers and wings closely related to birds – the creature offers fresh evidence that flight evolved...

3. Mon, 12 October 2026

   1 report
   • wfae.org16:04
     Birds are the dinosaurs that survived the mass-extinction event 66 millions years ago

     Birds are the only dinosaurs that survived the devastating asteroid impact 66 million years ago.

4. Wed, 14 October 2026

   2 reports
   • newscientist.com15:00
     Flightless ancient bird complicates our picture of wing evolution

     Fossils of a ground-dwelling, carnivorous bird with wing anatomy similar to that of a pheasant may force a rewrite of the role of flight in the early evolution of birds

   • El País (Spain)15:02
     No todas las aves primitivas buscaban volar, algunas se quedaron en el suelo

     El descubrimiento de ‘Yuezhuornis yangyuanensis’ añade nuevos argumentos al debate sobre el origen del vuelo en los ancestros de las aves modernas

5. Thu, 15 October 2026

   1 report
   • Le Monde (France)09:30
     « L’Envol des oiseaux » ou la saga des animaux à plumes

     Le paléontologue américain Steve Brusatte explique avec clarté et enthousiasme comment ont évolué ces bipèdes depuis leurs origines dinosauriennes.

6. Fri, 16 October 2026

   1 report
   • South China Morning Post12:00
     Sorry, Darwin: Chinese fossil shows that not all early birds evolved to fly

     Chinese scientists have unearthed a fossil of the earliest known flightless bird, offering compelling evidence that not all early birds evolved to take to the skies. The discovery could also challenge long-held assumptions – including ideas dating back to evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin – that flightlessness in birds arose only as a secondary adaptation after earlier species had mastered flight. The 150 million-year-old fossil of the Late Jurassic avialan Yuezhuornis yangyuanensis found...

7. Sun, 18 October 2026

   1 report
   • dailygalaxy.com12:15
     Neither Bird nor Dinosaur, the 0.8-Kilogram Jurassic Predator Scientists Found in China Was Built for Running, Not Flying

     It had the claws of a hunter, the teeth of a predator, and a body built for the chase. Yet scientists in China say this small Jurassic dinosaur-like creature refused to follow the path everyone expected.