Microraptor was the feathered dinosaur with four wings that lived during the Early Cretaceous. This small dromaeosaurid had long flight feathers on both its arms and legs, creating four aerodynamic surfaces rather than the single pair of wings seen in modern birds.
Fossils of Microraptor come mainly from Liaoning in northeastern China and date to roughly 125–120 million years ago. The exceptionally preserved specimens show pennaceous feathers, a feathered tail, and hindlimb feathers arranged as separate “hindwings.” In 2003, paleontologist Xu Xing and colleagues helped popularize the description of Microraptor as a four-winged dinosaur.
Scientists continue to debate exactly how it flew. Some studies have modeled it as a glider with a biplane-like arrangement, while others find evidence that it could launch from the ground and perhaps use powered flight. The discovery is important because Microraptor shows that flight-related feathers evolved in several closely related dinosaur groups. Archaeopteryx was also feathered and flight-capable, but it did not have Microraptor’s distinctive four-wing arrangement. Deinonychus and Velociraptor were dromaeosaur relatives, but their famous forms lacked these extensive hindwings.