Abstract
The famous ‘feathered dinosaurs’ from the Early Cretaceous of Liaoning Province, northeastern China, include several dromaeosaurids, which are among the closest relatives of birds. Most of these are small-bodied taxa with long arms and broad wings comprised of vaned feathers, but a single specimen (the holotype of Tianyuraptor) belongs to a much larger individual with reduced forelimbs, which unfortunately lacks any preserved integument. We describe a new specimen of large-bodied, short-armed Liaoning dromaeosaurid, which we designate as a new genus and species, Zhenyuanlong suni. The integument is well preserved and provides the first evidence of feather morphologies and distribution in a short-armed (and probably non-volant) dromaeosaurid, indicating that these rare and aberrant taxa had large wings consisting of pennaceous feathers on the arms and long pennaceous feathers on the tail very similar to their smaller and longer-armed relatives, but potentially lacked vaned feathers on the legs. Zhenyuanlong adds yet more diversity to the Liaoning dromaeosaurid fauna, helps further reveal a distinct short-armed bauplan among dromaeosaurids, and illuminates previously-unrecognized homoplasy that complicates dromaeosaurid phylogeny and suggests that the Liaoning taxa may not have formed their own clade.
Highlights
The famous ‘feathered dinosaurs’ from the Early Cretaceous of Liaoning Province, northeastern China, include several dromaeosaurids, which are among the closest relatives of birds
Like other Liaoning dromaeosaurids, this new taxon has broad wings on its arms comprised of multiple sets of pennaceous feathers and large pennaceous feathers on the tail, but unlike many basal paravian and avialan taxa appears to lack vaned feathers on the hindlimb
The new taxon increases the diversity of Liaoning dromaeosaurids, gives further evidence that long-armed and short-armed dromaeosaurids may have coexisted in the Early Cretaceous, and reveals a large amount of homoplasy that complicates the phylogeny of dromaeosaurids and indicates that the Liaoning taxa may not form their own distinct clade
Summary
The famous ‘feathered dinosaurs’ from the Early Cretaceous of Liaoning Province, northeastern China, include several dromaeosaurids, which are among the closest relatives of birds. Were not preserved on this specimen, leaving open the question of what type of integument short-armed dromaeosaurids had and whether they possessed large wings with pennaceous feathers like their smaller Liaoning relatives. We here report a second specimen of large-bodied, short-armed Liaoning dromaeosaurid (Fig. 1).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
