What is special about the Microraptor?

Unusual even among early birds and feathered dinosaurs, Microraptor is one of the few known bird precursors to sport long flight feathers on the legs as well as the wings. Their bodies had a thick covering of feathers, with a diamond-shaped fan on the end of the tail (possibly for added stability during flight).

Is Sinornithosaurus venomous?

Sinornithosaurus exhibits some traits which might be construed as similar to those in some reptiles with venomous bites, but there is no clear evidence to suggest that it (or any other dinosaur) was venomous.

How do you pronounce Sinornithosaurus?

Sinornithosaurus was one of the first dinosaurs discovered with feathers. It lived during the Early Cretaceous, 130–125 million years ago. Its name is derived from the Greek, ‘chinese bird-lizard’, and is pronounced: SINE-or-nith-oh-SAWR-us.

What did Sinornithosaurus look like?

Overview of Sinornithosaurus The feathers on this small theropod’s head were short and hairlike, but the feathers on its arms and tail were long and distinctively birdlike, with tufts of intermediate length along its back.

What did sinornithosaurus eat?

Gong and colleagues suggested that these unique features indicated that Sinornithosaurus may have specialized in hunting small prey such as birds, using its long fangs to penetrate feathers and envenomate and stun the prey, like a modern snake.

How do you spell Euoplocephalus?

eu·o·plo·cephalus.

Can Microraptor climb?

There are indications from the claw curvature work that I published with Alexander Birn-Jeffery and colleagues late last year (Birn-Jeffery et al. 2012), for example, that Microraptor could climb, and the idea that Microraptor occasionally ate fish (Xing et al.

What kind of dinosaur is Microraptor?

Microraptor ( Greek, μικρός, mīkros: “small”; Latin, raptor: “one who seizes”) is a genus of small, four-winged paravian dinosaurs. Numerous well-preserved fossil specimens have been recovered from Liaoning, China.

Was the Sinornithosaurus venomous?

The hypothesis of a venomous Sinornithosaurus was based upon three lines of evidence—apparently long teeth in the upper jaw, grooves in those teeth which could conduct venom, and a pocket in the skull said to be the perfect spot for a venom gland.

How is Microraptor similar to modern birds?

By analyzing the fossilized melanosomes (pigment cells) in the fossil with scanning electron microscope techniques, the researchers compared their arrangements to those of modern birds. In Microraptor, these cells were shaped in a manner consistent with black, glossy coloration in modern birds.

Is the Microraptor more derived than Archaeopteryx?

He cited the fused sternum and asymmetrical feathers, and argued that Microraptor has modern bird features that make it more derived than Archaeopteryx.