Stunning fossil shows dinosaurs’ distinctive path to flight

The discovery of a complete fossil of a feathered dinosaur species adds to evidence that birds evolved the ability to fly several times rather than through a single lineage. The newly described species belongs to a group of dinosaurs called microraptorines, which are closely related to birds. Researchers found that several flight-related adaptations in microraptorines also evolved in the bird lineage Avialae. But these adaptations did not develop in the same order in the two groups and “thus could not be considered the expression of a shared developmental regime”, the researchers write.