Novellraptor barsholdi

At https://phys.org/news/2026-09-feathered-winged-dinosaur-china-theories.html … a newly discovered feathered dinosaur find in China suggests flight related features evolved differently in various bird like creatures – or dinosaur groups. The specimen, exceptionally well preserved, is described as a microraptorine [a small dinosaur with feathers and what look like wings, of a sort]. These are thought to be relatives of modern birds. However, in this instance, they had forelimbs as well as hindlimbs so some wishful thinking might be involved. The specimen was dug out of a Lower Cretaceous rock formation. , Jiufotang in Liaoning in NE China. Parts of its plumage are preserved. Novellraptor barsholdi does not conform to the evolutionary tree, it would seem, and it may have taken a different path to what we know as birds. Of course, the clean cut version of the evolutionary tree we are all used to might be an imaginary concept in the real world. However, it is likely that dinosaur raptors did evolve into birds – but that may be due to the mass die off and the subsequent scramble to reoccupy niches that became vacant. Rather than somewhat smooth evolutionary pathways, as beloved by uniformitarians, the evolutionary record is more likely to be quite bumpy.