Feathered dinosaur fossils find has Chinese scientists all aflutter

[laconicsax]

New discovery unearthed in rock formations in north-eastern China confirms birds evolved from dinosaurs, scientists claim.

The discovery of five remarkable new fossils has confirmed that birds evolved from dinosaurs, Chinese scientists said last night.

Because the fossils, unearthed in north-eastern China, are older than previous discoveries of similar creatures, the find adds weight to the theory that birds descended from predatory dinosaurs.

The fossils all have feathers or feather-like structures. The clearest and most striking of the specimens can be seen to have four wings, extensive plumage and profusely feathered feet.

One of the scientists who made the discovery, Xu Xing, will reveal details of his find in Bristol at the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology.

[Posteritatis]

1. Your link's missing

Four wings, though? That's different.

[Igel]

2. No, just not common.

I was watching something that discussed a previous fossil that showed a lot of feathers on the critter's legs. Those are the added pair of "wings". The question was what purpose those feathers served? Did they flap their arms and legs (you get the point, I'm sure)? Did they flap either?

They did a bunch of modelling, computer and in a wind tunnel, and I think they finally concluded that the things glided, and that the back legs helped with control and provided substantially more lift if the legs were held at certain angles. Most alternatives showed increased drag with bare legs.

This was important because over a controversy as to how the leg bones fit into the hip sockets-- and the shape of the pelvis as well, IIRC. The fossil was flattened and there were two camps concerning the pelvis' shape. One proposal led to configurations in which the leg feathers were a distinct disadvantage; the other, to configurations in which the leg feathers were a great advantage. IIRC, the conclusion was that the Chinese researcher's reconstruction was unlikely, but I'm a linguist so what do I know?

[laconicsax]

5. Microraptor

I recently watched the same piece and thought it was pretty clear that the reconstruction that Xu Xing worked on was accurate--it was an illustration like the one below that was inaccurate.


Xu Xing's team averaged of more than a dozen Microraptor skeletons to make a reconstruction built by an anatomist and the result determined that the illustration was wrong, and they did the wind-tunnel tests to find out how it might have flown.

The other team, led by Larry "there's no way birds evolved from dinosaurs" Martin made their reconstruction from a cast of a fossilized skeleton where several bones, most notably the pelvis, had been flattened. This led to a model that resembled the illustration.

When Xu's team examined Martin's result, they noted that the pelvis was completely flattened and was probably inaccurate. When Martin examined the Xu's work, he dismissed it out of hand because it was different than his flattened fossil and because it was probably made by an artist who knew nothing of biology or anatomy.

[laconicsax]

3. I knew I was forgetting something.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/sep/24/dinosaur-fossil-discovery-china

[Posteritatis]

4. Thanks! (nt)