120-Million-Year-Old Fossil in China Reveals New Four-Winged Creatures That Hunted Birds

A 120-million-year-old fossil unearthed in northwestern China has revealed a previously unknown species of Microraptor – a small, feathered predator that likely glided between trees and hunted ancient birds, offering new clues about the evolution of flight and the ecosystems that existed alongside the earliest birds.

Researchers identified the fossil as a new species named Jianchangmaensis, a member of the dromaeosaurid family that also includes the larger and better-known Velociraptor.

The discovery marks the first definitive microraptor discovered outside northeastern China and represents the youngest confirmed member of the group yet identified, extending both its known geographic range and survival timeline.

Fossil Sheds Light on a Bird-Hunting Glider

The fossil was recovered from the Changma Basin in China’s Gansu Province, a site already renowned for producing numerous early bird fossils.

The species was identified from exceptionally preserved shoulder and forelimb bones. Researchers determined it belonged to a microraptor based on a distinctive opening in the shoulder bone known as the supracoracoid fenestra, a feature rarely seen outside the group.

Microraptors were equipped with wing-like feathers on both their forelimbs and hindlimbs, giving them a four-winged appearance.

Previous fossil evidence has shown that some microraptors preyed on birds, mammals and fish, suggesting they were versatile hunters that occupied a unique ecological niche in ancient forests.

Scientists Say Discovery Rewrites Understanding of the Group

The fossil was formally described on Thursday in the journal Annals of Carnegie Museum.

The species name combines a reference to the mythical one-winged bird “Jian” from Chinese folklore and the Changma Basin where the specimen was found.

“Jian changmaensis reveals that non-avian dinosaurs lived in what is now the Changma Basin, an area famous for its fossil birds,” study co-author Dr. Matt Lamanna, senior dinosaur researcher and curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, said in a statement, according to CNN.

“Our team has recovered more than one hundred bird fossils at Changma, but only this single non-avian dinosaur specimen.”

Lamanna said the discovery provides “critical new information” about the region’s ancient ecosystem and the environment in which the ancestors of modern birds evolved.

Clues to the Origins of Flight

Although only a partial skeleton was recovered, researchers say the preserved wing and shoulder bones indicate the animal was likely adapted for gliding and possibly some form of powered flight.

Its unusually long shoulder structure may offer fresh insights into how early feathered dinosaurs transitioned toward the flight capabilities seen in birds today.

“If you saw that thing sitting in a tree, you wouldn’t think velociraptor from ‘Jurassic Park,'” Lamanna told CNN, noting that microraptors appeared remarkably bird-like despite being non-avian dinosaurs.

Researchers say the discovery helps fill an important gap in the evolutionary story linking dinosaurs and modern birds while revealing that microraptors survived longer and occupied a broader geographic range than previously known.