Aug 9, 2017
A little late for Theropod Tuesday! This is Microraptor gui, the so-called “four-winged” theropod dinosaur. It is a microraptorine dromaeosaurid, in the same clade (group) (Dromaeosauridae) as the larger and younger Velociraptor from Mongolia. The carbonized feather remains on the arms, legs, and tail of this specimen are spectacular! The specimen itself comes from Lower Cretaceous (~125 million year old) lacustrine (lake) shales of the Yixian (pronounced YEE-shee-ahn) Formation in Liaoning Province, China. On display at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) in Beijing, China in 2008.