A newly named feathered dinosaur from northeastern China adds weight to the idea that the anatomy needed for flight was assembled more than once among small bird-like predators, rather than inherited from a single ancestor shared with birds. The species, Norellraptor barsboldi, was described on September 29 in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications from a complete skeleton about 22 inches (57 centimeters) long.

Norellraptor belongs to the microraptorines, a group of small, feathered dromaeosaurid dinosaurs known for long feathers on both their arms and legs, which is why they are often called four-winged dinosaurs. The researchers found that about 30% of the anatomical changes along the microraptorine family tree also appeared in the lineage leading to birds, but the two groups acquired those shared traits in a different sequence. The authors say that pattern argues against a shared developmental blueprint and points instead to separate evolutionary pressures shaping each group's flight apparatus.

The study does not show that Norellraptor itself could fly, and the team did not test its flight performance. What it offers is a clearer view of how flight-related anatomy built up over time, drawn from one of the most complete specimens of its kind.

A Complete Hunter From Liaoning's Fossil Beds

The skeleton was discovered by a local farmer near Lamadong Town in Jianchang County, western Liaoning, and donated in 2023 to the Museum of Hebei GEO University, according to the paper. The researchers said they checked the specimen's integrity and confirmed the original fossil locality, a standard precaution for fossils that reach museums through private hands.

The fossil comes from the Jiufotang Formation, part of the Early Cretaceous rocks that Springer Nature's press release placed broadly between 145 million and 100 million years old. These ancient lake and forest deposits, together with the underlying Yixian Formation, have produced many of the world's best-preserved feathered dinosaurs, as Discover Wildlife noted in its coverage of the find.

Traces of plumage survive near the forelimbs, the hind limbs and the end of the tail, although the authors said poor preservation makes the exact length and shape of the feathers hard to determine. Thin sections cut from a forearm bone revealed growth lines showing the animal was at least three years old when it died. Scott Hartman, a University of Wisconsin-Madison paleontologist who was not involved in the study, told Live Science the animal was likely a small generalist predator of early mammals, lizards, amphibians and young dinosaurs.

Same Traits, Different Order

The team traced 194 anatomical changes along the microraptorine branches of the family tree and found that 57 of them also evolved independently in the bird lineage. The shared features include more bony hooks called uncinate processes along the ribs, with some fused to the ribs, more ribs attached to the breastbone, an ulna longer than the upper arm bone, and alular feathers, small feathers on the thumb that modern birds use to help control slow flight.

The sequence is what stood out. Microraptorines first shortened certain finger bones, then later fused wrist and hand bones, opened a small window in a crest on the upper arm bone, and lengthened the breastbone. Early birds acquired that second set of features before the finger changes. A statistical comparison found no significant correlation between the two sequences.

The authors wrote that their results "dismiss a shared developmental pattern driving the evolution of the flying dinosaurs."Rui Pei, a paleontologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology who was not involved, told Live Science the work supports "the hypothesis that flapping flight evolved independently in non-avialan dinosaurs and birds."

Honoring Mark Norell and Rinchen Barsbold

The name carries a tribute. The genus honors American paleontologist Mark Allen Norell (1957 to 2025), long associated with the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the species honors Mongolian paleontologist Rinchen Barsbold (1935 to 2025). The authors wrote that the name recognizes both scientists' exceptional contributions to the study of bird-like dinosaurs, and the paper cites work by each, including Barsbold's research on the skull of Velociraptor.

The study was led by Xuri Wang, with co-authors including Andrea Cau of Italy's OPHIS Paleontological Museum and Herpetological Center, Martin Kundrát and Qiang Ji of Hebei GEO University. Funding came from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Slovak research agencies.

Limits of the Evidence

This is a descriptive and comparative study built on one specimen. Its conclusions depend on a family-tree analysis of anatomical characters, and different datasets have produced different trees for these animals in the past. The authors called the bone-growth evidence preliminary, and they say more fossils and histology will be needed to test how widespread the pattern was among bird-like dinosaurs.

The analysis also placed two other groups, the halszkaraptorines and unenlagiines, closer to birds than dromaeosaurids and troodontids, a result the authors acknowledge challenges several earlier studies and one that is likely to be debated. None of this changes the broad scientific consensus that birds descend from small theropod dinosaurs. The open question is how many times flight-related anatomy arose among those relatives.

Whether microraptorines actually flew remains unsettled. Hartman suggested to Live Science that they may have combined gliding and flapping, possibly launching after running down slopes or from hills and cliffs rather than climbing trees, while Pei said their bird-like features make it reasonable to expect behaviors comparable to modern birds. Those are expert interpretations, not results the new paper tested.

Next Steps for Researchers and Museums

The phylogenetic data are publicly available through FigShare, and the paper is open access, allowing other teams to test the conclusions directly. The holotype, catalogued as 130108-MHGU-F4281, is housed at the Museum of Hebei GEO University, where researchers can request access.

For readers in the United States, the finding connects to a wider story told in natural history museums: feathers and wings were experimented with across several dinosaur lineages, and birds are the lineage that survived. Microraptorines were not limited to Asia either; the paper cites a microraptorine described from Late Cretaceous rocks of North America.

Norellraptor barsboldi is a complete, four-winged predator whose flight-related traits assembled in a different order than in birds, strengthening the case that flight anatomy evolved more than once. The study stops short of showing that this animal flew, and scientists say additional fossils will be needed to confirm how widespread the pattern was.

What Readers Want to Know

What is Norellraptor barsboldi?

It is a newly described species of microraptorine, a small, feathered, bird-like predatory dinosaur from a group known for long feathers on both the arms and legs. The complete skeleton measures about 22 inches (57 centimeters) and was found in western Liaoning, China.

Could Norellraptor fly?

The study did not test whether it could fly. It documents flight-related anatomy, and independent experts have suggested microraptorines may have glided and flapped, but that remains unconfirmed.

What does it mean that flight anatomy evolved more than once?

The researchers found that microraptorines and early birds gained many of the same flight-related features in a different order, which suggests the two groups developed their flight anatomy independently rather than inheriting it from a shared ancestor.

Who is the dinosaur named after?

The genus honors American paleontologist Mark Allen Norell and the species honors Mongolian paleontologist Rinchen Barsbold, both of whom died in 2025.

How old was the animal when it died?

Growth lines in a forearm bone indicate it was at least three years old at death.

Where was the study published?

The peer-reviewed study appeared on September 29, 2026, in Nature Communications and is open access.