Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42811055›Full record

ArticleNature communications2026

Independent assembly of the flight apparatus in a non-avian dinosaur clade.

Xuri Wang, Yannan Ji, Andrea Cau, Martin Kundrát, Yichuan Liu, Yang Wang, Qiang Ji

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Xuri WangKey Laboratory of Stratigraphy and Paleontology of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2947-0439
Yannan JiChinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing, China.
Andrea CauOPHIS Museo Paleontologico e Centro Erpetologico, Teramo, I-64100, Italy. cauand@gmail.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8761-3720
Martin KundrátCenter for Integrative Paleobiology, Technology and Innovation Park, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, Košice, Slovak Republic.
Yichuan LiuKey Laboratory of Stratigraphy and Paleontology of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing, China.
Yang WangKey Laboratory of Stratigraphy and Paleontology of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing, China.
Qiang JiHebei GEO University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China. jiqiang@hgu.edu.cn.

Funding

Agentúra na Podporu Výskumu a Vývoja (Slovak Research and Development Agency) APVV-21-0319Agentúra na Podporu Výskumu a Vývoja (Slovak Research and Development Agency) APVV-24-0161National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China) 42472002National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China) U2544210
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The discovery of feathered dinosaurs revolutionized the studies on the origin of birds and the evolution of their flight. Among paravians (birds and their closest relatives), the microraptorine dromaeosaurids are unique in bearing several flight-related adaptations with a controversial evolutionary interpretation, supporting, alternatively, flight as ancestral to Paraves or having evolved multiple times among the latter. Here, we introduce an exquisitely-preserved member of Microraptorinae, Norellraptor barsboldi gen. et sp. nov., and describe in detail forelimb osteohistological features for that clade. Norellraptor nests among late-diverging microraptorines and supports step-wise assembly of aerial adaptations in that clade. About 30% of the microraptorine synapomorphies are convergently acquired by the bird lineage (Avialae). Yet, the sequences of flight-related novelties reconstructed along the two lineages differ consistently; combined with histological evidence which might indicate a peculiar limb growth model in Microraptorinae, these results dismiss a shared developmental pattern driving the evolution of the flying dinosaurs and support multiple and independent selective regimes at the origin of the winged taxa in Paraves.

Indexed as

DinosaursFlight, AnimalAnimalsBiological EvolutionBirdsForelimbFossilsPhylogeny

Identifiers

PMID42811055
PMCPMC13623826

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.