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3h ago

New Four‑Winged Microraptorine Jian changmaensis Identified at Changma Basin

Its partial shoulder and forelimb suggest a large, four‑winged glider that could have preyed on the Early Cretaceous birds preserved at the site.

The new microraptor dinosaur Jian changmaensis (left) attacks the early bird Gansus yumenensis (right) in what is now the Changma Basin of northwestern China approximately 120 million years ago. Credits: illustration by Lewis LaRosa, colorized by Jão Canola.
Image
The fossilized arm bones of the new dinosaur Jian changmaensis.

Overview

  • The species Jian changmaensis was formally named and described in the Annals of Carnegie Museum in a paper published on June 4, 2026.
  • The holotype (GSGM‑D050) is an articulated partial left pectoral girdle and forelimb that the authors used to diagnose the new dromaeosaurid species.
  • Phylogenetic analysis places Jian within Microraptorinae, extending confirmed occurrences of this group into northwestern China and linking Changma’s fauna to Jehol‑area assemblages.
  • A roughly 10 cm humeral fragment leads researchers to estimate a barn‑owl sized animal with an inferred four‑foot wingspan and long feathers on fore‑ and hindlimbs that likely enabled gliding rather than powered flight; these locomotor and ecological conclusions remain provisional because they rest on limited material.
  • The find offers a plausible explanation for the site’s broken, pellet‑like bird remains and reshapes understanding of local predator–prey dynamics, but authors say more complete specimens and analyses are needed to test size, flight and ecological hypotheses.