Changyuraptor yangi is a bird-like dinosaur that lived in China during the Early Cretaceous period around 125 million years ago. At 12 in its feathers are the longest known from any dinosaur. This is even bigger than its cousin Microraptor, an insectivore. All these dinosaurs are insectivores, which means they hunt insects.
Description[]
Discovery[]
The fossil, holotype HG B016, was discovered by farmers near Xijianchang in the Early Cretaceous fossil deposits, the Yixian Formation, of the Jehol Biota, located in the Liaoning province of China. From 2012 it was studied by an international team of scientists led by Dr. Luis Chiappe, Director of the Dinosaur Institute at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.The holotype consists of a rather complete skeleton with skull, compressed on a plate and counterplate. It shows extensive remains of the integument in the form of pennaceous feathers. In 2014, the specimen was described as the new genus and species Changyuraptor yangi. The generic name of the dinosaur combines the Chinese words for "long feather", 長羽 (cháng yǔ), with Latin raptor ("robber", "seizer"). The specific name honours researcher Professor Yang Yandong.
The Jehol Biota are found in the richest fossil beds for feathered dinosaurs in the world which have yielded notable species such as Yutyrannus huali, a feathered tyrannosauroid with a length of 27 to 30 feet (8.2 to 9.1 meters) and the largest feathered dinosaur known to date.
In 2003 Microraptor, a raven-sized dinosaur, approximately 1 kilogram (2.2 lbs) in weight, was the first of the microraptorines to be discovered. It shared with species such as Anchiornis and Xiaotingia large feathered limbs and elongated bony tails with long tail feathers. These features caused experts to hypothesize that miniaturisation was an essential evolutionary step to enable flight. Changyuraptor's larger size and weight contradicts that hypothesis. Changyuraptor is also the second four-winged dinosaur to be discovered after Microraptor. Changyuraptor and other microraptorines add to the evidence that dinosaurs had evolved a host of morphological features and behaviours such as feathers, hollow bones, nesting behaviour, and possibly flight, before they evolved in birds.
In Popular Culture[]
- Changyuraptor Made it's 1st media appearance on the 4th Season of Dinosaur Train. Where a family of Changyuraptors the Conductor dropped off on Lizard Island a while ago has since multiplied, has been eating all the lizards and throwing the entire ecosystem out of balance in "Where have all the Lizards gone?".
Gallery[]
References[]
http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/science-changyuraptor-yangi-feathered-dinosaur-china-02065.html