Fossilised Skeleton of Flying Dinosaur that Resembled Chicken, Discovered in China

Researchers at Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels discovered new fossilised skeleton of flying dinosaur called Aurornis xui in China. This new species is approximately the size of a chicken. It lived around 150 million years ago.

The flying dinosaur from the Middle-Late Jurassic period was 20 inches in length and also had teeth. Its diet could be insects. The discovery provides an insight into understanding of evolution of birds.

Aurornis xui was discovered from Tiaojishan Formation of Liaoning Province, China. The lead author and researcher, Pascal Godefroit explained that the dinosaur might have had four wings, two alongside the arms and two alongside the legs.

The specimen, which is preserved in the clay sediment is an adult. Earlier, another fossil from around 150 million years ago, known as Archaeopteryx was considered as most primitive bird, but with this discovery, it is expected that Aurornis xui is even more primitive bird that Archaeopteryx.

The discovery hints towards the relationships between early species of the birds as well as the dinosaur relatives of these birds. This means that the species which were called birds could be considered as the troodontids or vice-versa.