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- Title
Four-winged dinosaurs from China.
- Authors
Xu, Xing; Zhou, Zhonghe; Wang, Xiaolin; Kuang, Xuewen; Zhang, Fucheng; Du, Xiangke
- Abstract
Although the dinosaurian hypothesis of bird origins is widely accepted, debate remains about how the ancestor of birds first learned to fly. Here we provide new evidence suggesting that basal dromaeosaurid dinosaurs were four-winged animals and probably could glide, representing an intermediate stage towards the active, flapping-flight stage. The new discovery conforms to the predictions of early hypotheses that proavians passed through a tetrapteryx stage.
- Subjects
CHINA; DINOSAURS; BIRDS
- Publication
Nature, 2003, Vol 421, Issue 6921, p335
- ISSN
0028-0836
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/nature01342