Evolution
A newly described microraptorine adds detail to a branching history in which flight-related structures assembled more than one way.
On 29 September 2026, Xuri Wang and colleagues published a new open-access study in Nature Communications describing Norellraptor barsboldi, an exceptionally preserved microraptorine dinosaur specimen from Liaoning, China. Their comparative and bone-histology analyses examine how flight-related adaptations accumulated within microraptorines, a group of small feathered non-avian dinosaurs.
The paper argues for a stepwise assembly of aerial adaptations in that lineage. It identifies substantial convergence with the bird lineage while reconstructing different sequences of flight-related novelties. That supports multiple, independent selective regimes rather than one shared developmental pattern. It does not make Norellraptor a direct ancestor of birds, nor settle every debate about dinosaur flight.
The authors report that roughly thirty per cent of the microraptorine traits identified in their analysis were acquired convergently by avialans. A percentage can sound like a verdict, but here it describes a result within a particular dataset and evolutionary reconstruction. Its importance lies in the pattern it helps test, not in turning a complex history into one permanent number. Comparative conclusions remain open to revision as new fossils alter the available sample and the relationships inferred from it.
