New information on the Hind limb feathering, soft tissues and skeleton of Microraptor (Theropoda: Dromaeosauridae)
The overall configuration of feather layers is only found in Microraptor, and the two layers of elongated and asymmetrically vaned feathers linked to the metatarsus are more reminiscent of the forewing of modern birds than of any leg in other fossils and modern taxa. These new observations allow us to better understand the flight, non-flight locomotion and hunting strategies of this iconic 'four-winged' dinosaur suggesting Microraptor had a complex behaviour that made it adapted to arboreal and terrestrial habitats.
Authors
- Michael Pittman
- Thomas G. Kaye
- Scott Hartman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7276-4419)
- Michael Habib (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4537-5319)
- Xiaoting Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1179-0170)
- Juned Zariwala
- Martin Kundrát (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9361-2273)
- T. Alexander Dececchi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7972-3866)
- Luke A. Barlow
- Xiaoli Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9388-0734)
- Xing Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4786-9948)
- Matthieu Chotard
- Maxime Grosmougin
Institutions
- Dakota State University (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK)
- Yunnan University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik (SK)
- Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (CN)
- University of Lincoln (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- BMC Ecology and Evolution
- Published
- 2025-04-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-025-02372-0
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 8.66
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Agentúra na Podporu Výskumu a Vývoja