A new species of dinosaur with bird-like wings has come to light in China’s rocks dating to some 125 million years ago.
An artist’s impression of Zhenyuanlong suni. Image credit: Chuang Zhao.
The new dinosaur, named Zhenyuanlong suni, belonged to a family of feathered meat-eaters that was widespread during the Cretaceous period. The species is a close cousin of the famous Velociraptor and is the largest dinosaur ever to have a set of bird-like wings.
The near-complete skeleton of Zhenyuanlong suni was studied by paleontologists Dr Steve Brusatte from of the University of Edinburgh, UK, and Prof Junchang Lü from the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences’ Institute of Geology.
Zhenyuanlong suni grew to more than 5 feet (1.5 meters) in length. Its wings were very short compared with other dinosaurs in the same family and consisted of multiple layers of large feathers – complex structures made up of fine branches stemming from a central shaft.
“Although larger feathered dinosaurs have been identified before, none have possessed such complex wings made up of quill pen-like feathers,” the paleontologists said.
Despite having bird-like wings, Zhenyuanlong suni probably could not fly, at least not using the same type of powerful muscle-driven flight as modern birds. It is unclear what function the short wings served.
The holotype of Zhenyuanlong suni. Image credit: Junchang Lü / Stephen L. Brusatte.
“This new dinosaur is one of the closest cousins of Velociraptor, but it looks just like a bird. It’s a dinosaur with huge wings made up of quill pen feathers, just like an eagle or a vulture,” said Dr Brusatte, who is a co-author of a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports.
“The movies have it wrong – this is what Velociraptor would have looked like too.”
Prof Lü added: “the western part of Liaoning Province in China is one of the most famous places in the world for finding dinosaurs.”
“The first feathered dinosaurs were found here and now our discovery of Zhenyuanlong suni indicates that there is an even higher diversity of feathered dinosaurs than we thought. It’s amazing that new feathered dinosaurs are still being found.”
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Junchang Lü & Stephen L. Brusatte. 2015. A large, short-armed, winged dromaeosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Early Cretaceous of China and its implications for feather evolution. Scientific Reports 5, article number: 11775; doi: 10.1038/srep11775
