A life reconstruction of the bird-like dinosaur Fujianvenator prodigiosus, which lived 148 million to 150 million years ago in China, is seen in this illustration.
Asked for a word to describe Fujianvenator, Wang replied, "I would say 'bizarre.'
Fujianvenator is a member of a grouping called avialans that includes all birds and their closest non-avian dinosaur relatives, Wang said.
"The forelimb is generally built like a bird's wing, but with three claws on the fingers, which are absent from modern birds.
There is still a big gap between the oldest known bird and the second-oldest known birds," Zhou said.
Persons:
Chuang Zhao, Handout, Fujianvenator, Min Wang, Wang, Zhonghe Zhou, Zhou, Will Dunham, Daniel Wallis
Organizations:
REUTERS Acquire, Vertebrate Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Thomson
Locations:
China, Fujian Province, Germany, Fujianvenator, Washington