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105-507: Microraptor ( Greek , μικρός, mīkros : "small"; Latin , raptor : "one who seizes") is a genus of small, four-winged dromaeosaurid dinosaurs . Numerous well-preserved fossil specimens have been recovered from Liaoning , China . They date from the early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation ( Aptian stage), 125 to 120 million years ago. Three species have been named ( M. zhaoianus , M. gui , and M. hanqingi ), though further study has suggested that all of them represent variation in

210-570: A "thumb-like" form of leading edge slot , may indicate that Microraptor was capable of true, powered flight. Other studies have demonstrated that the wings of Microraptor were large enough to generate the lift necessary for powered launching into flight even without a fully vertical flight stroke. A 2016 study of incipient flight ability in paravians demonstrated that Microraptor was capable of wing-assisted incline running , as well as wing-assisted leaping and even ground-based launching. Stephen Czerkas, Gregory S. Paul, and others have argued that

315-542: A 2024 paper which reported the smallest known juvenile specimen of Microraptor , Wang and Pei included microraptorians and eudromaeosaurians within a new clade Serraraptoria. Microraptor had four wings , one on each of its forelimbs and hindlimbs, somewhat resembling one possible arrangement of the quartet of flight surfaces on a tandem wing aircraft of today. It had long pennaceous feathers on arms and hands 10–20 cm long (3.9–7.9 in) with legs and feet 11–15 cm long (4.3–5.9 in). The long feathers on

420-559: A Mesozoic mammal, the only other being a specimen of the compsognathid Sinosauropteryx . In the December 6, 2011 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , Jingmai O'Connor and coauthors described a specimen of Microraptor gui containing bones of an arboreal enantiornithean bird in its abdomen, specifically a partial wing and feet. Their position implies the bird was swallowed whole and head-first, which

525-435: A basal bird group, and that later, larger, species such as Deinonychus were secondarily flightless (Czerkas, 2002). The current consensus is that there is not enough evidence to conclude whether dromaeosaurs descended from an ancestor with some aerodynamic abilities. The work of Xu et al. (2003) suggested that basal dromaeosaurs were probably small, arboreal, and could glide. The work of Turner et al. (2007) suggested that

630-577: A basis for coinages: anthropology , photography , telephony , isomer , biomechanics , cinematography , etc. Together with Latin words , they form the foundation of international scientific and technical vocabulary ; for example, all words ending in -logy ('discourse'). There are many English words of Greek origin . Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The ancient language most closely related to it may be ancient Macedonian , which, by most accounts,

735-668: A conventional interpretation and a tetrapteryx stage are equally possible. However, based on the presence of unusually long leg feathers in various feathered dinosaurs, Archaeopteryx , and some modern birds such as raptors, as well as the discovery of further dinosaurs with long primary feathers on their feet (such as Pedopenna ), the authors argued that the current body of evidence, both from morphology and phylogeny, suggests that bird flight did shift at some point from shared limb dominance to front-limb dominance and that all modern birds may have evolved from four-winged ancestors, or at least ancestors with unusually long leg feathers relative to

840-857: A curator at the American Museum of Natural History in 1990 and helped oversee the renovation of the Halls of Vertebrate Evolution . The organization, where visitors progress in a circular motion around the floor, mirrors the evolutionary patterns of a phylogenetic tree . Thus, guests begin their exploration with the simplest vertebrates, placoderms and bony fishes , and conclude their visit with advanced mammals, such as mammoths and artiodactyls . Currently, Norell studies relationships of small carnivorous dinosaurs to modern birds and develops new ways of observing fossils through CT scans and imaging computers . He has led over twenty international paleontological expeditions, in locales such as Patagonia, Cuba,

945-472: A deep U-shaped curve and then lifted again to land on another tree. The feathers not directly employed in the biplane wing structure, like those on the tibia and the tail , could have been used to control drag and alter the flight path , trajectory , etc. The orientation of the hindwings would also have helped the animal control its gliding flight. Chatterjee also used computer algorithms that test animal flight capacity to test whether or not Microraptor

1050-511: A description of it later that year, giving it the name Microraptor zhaoianus . Since the two names designate the same individual as the type specimen, Microraptor zhaoianus would have been a junior objective synonym of Archaeoraptor liaoningensis and the latter, if valid, would have had priority under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature . However, there is some doubt whether Olson in fact succeeded in meeting all

1155-460: A diamond-shaped fan on the end of the tail (possibly for added stability during flight). Xu et al. (2003) compared the longer plumes on Microraptor ' s head to those of the Philippine eagle . Bands of dark and light present on some specimens may indicate color patterns present in life, though at least some individuals almost certainly possessed an iridescent black coloration. A diagnosis

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1260-558: A fairly stable set of consonantal contrasts . The main phonological changes occurred during the Hellenistic and Roman period (see Koine Greek phonology for details): In all its stages, the morphology of Greek shows an extensive set of productive derivational affixes , a limited but productive system of compounding and a rich inflectional system. Although its morphological categories have been fairly stable over time, morphological changes are present throughout, particularly in

1365-560: A faster, more convenient cursive writing style with the use of ink and quill . The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each with an uppercase ( majuscule ) and lowercase ( minuscule ) form. The letter sigma has an additional lowercase form (ς) used in the final position of a word: In addition to the letters, the Greek alphabet features a number of diacritical signs : three different accent marks ( acute , grave , and circumflex ), originally denoting different shapes of pitch accent on

1470-540: A foreign language. It is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, " Homeric Greek is probably closer to Demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English ". Greek is spoken today by at least 13 million people, principally in Greece and Cyprus along with a sizable Greek-speaking minority in Albania near

1575-521: A high-lift coefficient at the expense of high drag was likely the most efficient strategy for Microraptor when gliding between low elevations. Microraptor did not require a sophisticated, 'modern' wing morphology to be an effective glider. However, the idea that Microraptor was an arboreal glider relies on it to have regularly climbed or even lived in trees, when study of its anatomy have shown that its limb proportions fall in line with modern ground birds rather than climbers, and its skeleton shows none of

1680-497: A longer tail, proportionately, than other Microraptor specimens that had been described by 2002, which have 24 to 26 tail vertebrae. Subsequent studies (and more specimens of Microraptor ) have shown that the features used to distinguish Cryptovolans are not unique, but are present to varying degrees across various specimens. In a review by Phil Senter and colleagues in 2004, the scientists suggested that all these features represented individual variation across various age groups of

1785-898: A modern starling , and indicated iridescence in the plumage of Microraptor . Though the researchers state that the true function of the iridescence is yet unknown, it has been suggested that the tiny dromaeosaur was using its glossy coat as a form of communication or sexual display, much as in modern iridescent birds. The cladogram below follows a 2012 analysis by paleontologists Phil Senter, James I. Kirkland, Donald D. DeBlieux, Scott Madsen and Natalie Toth. Xiaotingia [REDACTED] Unenlagiinae [REDACTED] Shanag [REDACTED] Saurornitholestinae Velociraptorinae [REDACTED] Dromaeosaurinae [REDACTED] Tianyuraptor Hesperonychus Microraptor sp. Microraptor gui [REDACTED] Microraptor zhaoianus Cryptovolans Graciliraptor [REDACTED] Sinornithosaurus [REDACTED] In

1890-408: A number of different areas, from the theoretical study of diversity through time, his doctoral dissertation on alligator phylogeny, and his postdoctoral work on evolutionary variations in maize. Following his M.S. at San Diego , Norell published papers on the efficacy of the fossil record in capturing phylogenetic history, and how missing data can influence the estimation of phylogeny. Norell became

1995-420: A prerequisite for the flapping flight stroke in birds. Studies of maniraptoran anatomy have suggested that the shoulder socket did not shift into the bird-like position of a high, upward orientation close to the vertebral column until relatively advanced avialans like the enantiornithes appeared. However, other scientists have argued that the shoulder girdle in some paravian theropods, including Microraptor ,

2100-474: A single Microraptor species, making the name Cryptovolans pauli and Microraptor gui junior synonyms of Microraptor zhaoianus . Many other researchers, including Alan Feduccia and Tom Holtz, have since supported its synonymy. M. gui has been accepted as a distinct species with the specimen reported in 2013 being distinguishable from the type specimen of M. zhaoianus . A new specimen of Microraptor , BMNHC PH881, showed several features previously unknown in

2205-434: A single species, which is properly called M. zhaoianus . Cryptovolans , initially described as another four-winged dinosaur, is usually considered to be a synonym of Microraptor . Like Archaeopteryx , well-preserved fossils of Microraptor provide important evidence about the evolutionary relationship between birds and earlier dinosaurs. Microraptor had long pennaceous feathers that formed aerodynamic surfaces on

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2310-436: A small individual and included faint feather remnants, but was otherwise not well preserved and lacked a skull. In 2002 Mark Norell et al. described another specimen, BPM 1 3-13, which they did not name or refer to an existing species. Later that year Stephen Czerkas et al. named the specimen Cryptovolans pauli , and referred two additional specimens (the first to show well-preserved feathers) to this species. The generic name

2415-487: A specialist for hunting in either habitats. In 2019, a new genus of scleroglossan lizard ( Indrasaurus ) was described from a specimen found in the stomach of a Microraptor . The Microraptor apparently swallowed its prey head first, a behavior typical of modern carnivorous birds and lizards. The Indrasaurus bones lacked marked pitting and scarring, indicating that the Microraptor died shortly after eating

2520-458: A theropod dinosaur, described a series of dinosaurs with feathers, and discovered the first direct evidence of dinosaur brooding. Norell's theoretical work has a focus of data evaluation in large cladistic sets, as well as fossil pattern estimation through phylogeny, in order to see trends in diversity and extinction. He has authored several papers that discuss the relationship between stratigraphic position and phylogenetic topology. In 1998, Norell

2625-549: Is a statement of the anatomical features of an organism (or group) that collectively distinguish it from all other organisms. Some, but not all, of the features in a diagnosis are also autapomorphies. An autapomorphy is a distinctive anatomical feature that is unique to a given organism. Several anatomical features found in Microraptor , such as a combination of unserrated and partially serrated teeth with constricted 'waists', and unusually long upper arm bones, are shared with both primitive avians and primitive troodontids . Microraptor

2730-804: Is also found in Bulgaria near the Greek-Bulgarian border. Greek is also spoken worldwide by the sizable Greek diaspora which has notable communities in the United States , Australia , Canada , South Africa , Chile , Brazil , Argentina , Russia , Ukraine , the United Kingdom , and throughout the European Union , especially in Germany . Historically, significant Greek-speaking communities and regions were found throughout

2835-479: Is an Indo-European language, but also includes a number of borrowings from the languages of the populations that inhabited Greece before the arrival of Proto-Greeks, some documented in Mycenaean texts ; they include a large number of Greek toponyms . The form and meaning of many words have changed. Loanwords (words of foreign origin) have entered the language, mainly from Latin, Venetian , and Turkish . During

2940-403: Is curved in such a way that the shoulder joint could only have been positioned high on the back, allowing for a nearly vertical upstroke of the wing. This possibly advanced shoulder anatomy, combined with the presence of a propatagium linking the wrist to the shoulder (which fills the space in front of the flexed wing and may support the wing against drag in modern birds) and an alula , much like

3045-466: Is matched only by the now-extinct Anatolian languages . The Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods: In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia : the coexistence of vernacular and archaizing written forms of the language. What came to be known as the Greek language question was a polarization between two competing varieties of Modern Greek: Dimotiki ,

3150-431: Is particularly similar to the basal troodontid Sinovenator ; in their 2002 description of two M. zhaoianus specimens, Hwang et al. note that this is not particularly surprising, given that both Microraptor and Sinovenator are very primitive members of two closely related groups, and both are close to the deinonychosaurian split between dromaeosaurids and troodontids. In March 2012, Quanguo Li et al. determined

3255-519: Is protected and promoted officially as a regional and minority language in Armenia, Hungary , Romania, and Ukraine. It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . The phonology , morphology , syntax , and vocabulary of the language show both conservative and innovative tendencies across the entire attestation of the language from the ancient to

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3360-852: Is sometimes called aljamiado , as when Romance languages are written in the Arabic alphabet. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Greek: Transcription of the example text into Latin alphabet : Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English: Proto-Greek Mycenaean Ancient Koine Medieval Modern Mark Norell Norell's research has encompassed

3465-763: Is still used internationally for the writing of Ancient Greek . In Greek, the question mark is written as the English semicolon, while the functions of the colon and semicolon are performed by a raised point (•), known as the ano teleia ( άνω τελεία ). In Greek the comma also functions as a silent letter in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing ό,τι ( ó,ti , 'whatever') from ότι ( óti , 'that'). Ancient Greek texts often used scriptio continua ('continuous writing'), which means that ancient authors and scribes would write word after word with no spaces or punctuation between words to differentiate or mark boundaries. Boustrophedon , or bi-directional text,

3570-674: The Balkans , Caucasus , the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor , and the Eastern Mediterranean . It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system is the Greek alphabet , which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary . The alphabet arose from

3675-624: The Byzantine Empire and developed into Medieval Greek . In its modern form , Greek is the official language of Greece and Cyprus and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union . It is spoken by at least 13.5 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey , and the many other countries of the Greek diaspora . Greek roots have been widely used for centuries and continue to be widely used to coin new words in other languages; Greek and Latin are

3780-627: The Christian Bible was also originally written in Greek. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world , the Greek texts and Greek societies of antiquity constitute the objects of study of the discipline of Classics . During antiquity , Greek was by far the most widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world . It eventually became the official language of

3885-495: The Eastern Mediterranean , in what are today Southern Italy , Turkey , Cyprus , Syria , Lebanon , Israel , Palestine , Egypt , and Libya ; in the area of the Black Sea , in what are today Turkey, Bulgaria , Romania , Ukraine , Russia , Georgia , Armenia , and Azerbaijan ; and, to a lesser extent, in the Western Mediterranean in and around colonies such as Massalia , Monoikos , and Mainake . It

3990-516: The Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ), but little definitive evidence has been found. In addition, Albanian has also been considered somewhat related to Greek and Armenian, and it has been proposed that they all form a higher-order subgroup along with other extinct languages of the ancient Balkans; this higher-order subgroup is usually termed Palaeo-Balkan , and Greek has a central position in it. Linear B , attested as early as

4095-660: The Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology . Xu also considered these specimens, most of which had hindwings and proportional differences from the original Microraptor specimen, to be a new species, which he named Microraptor gui . However, Senter also questioned this classification, noting that as with Cryptovolans , most of the differences appeared to correspond with size, and likely age differences. Two further specimens, classified as M. zhaoianus in 2002 ( M. gui had not yet been named), have also been described by Hwang and colleagues. Czerkas also believed that

4200-622: The National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution , published a description of the Microraptor's tail in an obscure journal, giving it the name Archaeoraptor liaoningensis in an attempt to remove the name from the paleornithological record by assigning it to the part least likely to be a bird. However, Xu had discovered the remains of the specimen from which the tail had been taken and published

4305-657: The Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin , Cyrillic , Coptic , Gothic , and many other writing systems. The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with the epics of Homer , ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting importance in the European canon . Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts in science and philosophy were originally composed. The New Testament of

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4410-492: The nominal and verbal systems. The major change in the nominal morphology since the classical stage was the disuse of the dative case (its functions being largely taken over by the genitive ). The verbal system has lost the infinitive , the synthetically -formed future, and perfect tenses and the optative mood . Many have been replaced by periphrastic ( analytical ) forms. Pronouns show distinctions in person (1st, 2nd, and 3rd), number (singular, dual , and plural in

4515-529: The Chilean Andes, the Sahara and West Africa. The famous Mongolia project, which has delivered numerous discoveries in vertebrate evolution, has received world-wide attention. Mark Norell is the direct discoverer of the enigmatic theropod Shuvuuia , co-led the group that discovered Ukhaa Tolgod , the richest Cretaceous terrestrial vertebrate fossil locality in the world, discovered the first embryo of

4620-486: The Greek alphabet since approximately the 9th century BC. It was created by modifying the Phoenician alphabet , with the innovation of adopting certain letters to represent the vowels. The variant of the alphabet in use today is essentially the late Ionic variant, introduced for writing classical Attic in 403 BC. In classical Greek, as in classical Latin, only upper-case letters existed. The lower-case Greek letters were developed much later by medieval scribes to permit

4725-495: The Greek language was the Cypriot syllabary (also a descendant of Linear A via the intermediate Cypro-Minoan syllabary ), which is closely related to Linear B but uses somewhat different syllabic conventions to represent phoneme sequences. The Cypriot syllabary is attested in Cyprus from the 11th century BC until its gradual abandonment in the late Classical period, in favor of the standard Greek alphabet. Greek has been written in

4830-629: The Greek verb have likewise remained largely the same over the course of the language's history but with significant changes in the number of distinctions within each category and their morphological expression. Greek verbs have synthetic inflectional forms for: Many aspects of the syntax of Greek have remained constant: verbs agree with their subject only, the use of the surviving cases is largely intact (nominative for subjects and predicates, accusative for objects of most verbs and many prepositions, genitive for possessors), articles precede nouns, adpositions are largely prepositional, relative clauses follow

4935-685: The Greek-Albanian border. A significant percentage of Albania's population has knowledge of the Greek language due in part to the Albanian wave of immigration to Greece in the 1980s and '90s and the Greek community in the country. Prior to the Greco-Turkish War and the resulting population exchange in 1923 a very large population of Greek-speakers also existed in Turkey , though very few remain today. A small Greek-speaking community

5040-658: The Shangheshou Bed of the Jiufotang Formation in Liaoning, China. In fact, Microraptor is the most abundant non-avialan dinosaur fossil type found in this formation. In 2010, it was reported that there were over 300 undescribed specimens attributable to Microraptor or its close relatives among the collections of several Chinese museums, though many had been altered or composited by private fossil collectors. Norell et al. (2002) described BPM 1 3-13 as

5145-404: The acute during the late 20th century, and it has only been retained in typography . After the writing reform of 1982, most diacritics are no longer used. Since then, Greek has been written mostly in the simplified monotonic orthography (or monotonic system), which employs only the acute accent and the diaeresis. The traditional system, now called the polytonic orthography (or polytonic system),

5250-414: The anatomical features expected of a flying animal, though it would have been a less advanced form of flight compared to birds. For example, some studies suggest the shoulder joint was too primitive to allow a full flapping flight stroke. In the ancestral anatomy of theropod dinosaurs, the shoulder socket faced downward and slightly backward, making it impossible for the animals to raise their arms vertically,

5355-678: The ancestral dromaeosaur could not glide or fly, but that there was good evidence that it was small-bodied (around 65 cm long and 600–700 g in mass). Microraptor was among the smallest-known non-avian dinosaurs , with the holotype of M. gui measuring 77 centimetres (2.53 ft) in length, 88–94 centimetres (2.89–3.08 ft) in wingspan and weighing 0.5–1.4 kilograms (1.1–3.1 lb). There are larger specimens which would have measured at least 80 centimetres (2.6 ft) in length, more than 99 centimetres (3.25 ft) in wingspan and weighed 1.25–1.88 kilograms (2.8–4.1 lb). Aside from their extremely small size, Microraptor were among

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5460-402: The ancient language; singular and plural alone in later stages), and gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and decline for case (from six cases in the earliest forms attested to four in the modern language). Nouns, articles, and adjectives show all the distinctions except for a person. Both attributive and predicative adjectives agree with the noun. The inflectional categories of

5565-496: The animal may have been able to fly better than Archaeopteryx , the animal usually referred to as the earliest known bird. He cited the fused sternum and asymmetrical feathers, and argued that Microraptor has modern bird features that make it more derived than Archaeopteryx . Czerkas cited the fact that this possibly volant animal is also very clearly a dromaeosaurid to suggest that the Dromaeosauridae might actually be

5670-525: The animal, including the probably glossy-black iridescent plumage coloration. The new specimen also featured a bifurcated tailfan, similar in shape to previously known Microraptor tailfans except sporting a pair of long, narrow feathers at the center of the fan. The new specimen also showed no sign of the nuchal crest, indicating that the crest inferred from the holotype specimen may be an artifact of taphonomic distortion. Numerous further specimens likely belonging to Microraptor have been uncovered, all from

5775-421: The arms and tail but also on the legs. This led paleontologist Xu Xing in 2003 to describe the first specimen to preserve this feature as a "four-winged dinosaur" and to speculate that it may have glided using all four limbs for lift. Subsequent studies have suggested that Microraptor was capable of powered flight as well. Microraptor was among the most abundant non- avialan dinosaurs in its ecosystem, and

5880-435: The authors interpreted as implying that the Microraptor had caught and consumed the bird in the trees, rather than scavenging it. In 2013 researchers announced that they had found fish scales in the abdominal cavity of another M. gui specimen. The authors contradicted the prior suggestion that M. gui hunted only in an arboreal environment, proposing that it was also an adept hunter of fish as well. They further argued that

5985-436: The authors' opinion made it a bird ), a co-ossified sternum, a tail consisting of 28 to 30 vertebrae and a third finger with a short phalanx III-3. Some of the feathers Czerkas described as primary were actually attached to the leg, rather than the arm. This, along with most of the other diagnostic characters, is also present in the genus Microraptor , which was first described earlier than Cryptovolans . However, BPM 1 3-13 has

6090-404: The construction of a lightweight three-dimensional physical model used to perform glide tests. Using several hindleg configurations for the model, they found that the biplane model, while not unreasonable, was structurally deficient and needed a heavy-headed weight distribution for stable gliding, which they deemed unlikely. The study indicated that a laterally abducted hindwing structure represented

6195-540: The expected adaptations in animals specialized for climbing trees. Describing specimens originally referenced as a distinctive species ( Cryptovolans pauli ), paleontologist Stephen Czerkas argued Microraptor may have been a powered flier, and indeed possibly a better flyer than Archaeopteryx . He noted that the Microraptor's fused sternum, asymmetrical feathers, and features of the shoulder girdle indicated that it could fly under its own power, rather than merely gliding. Today, most scientists agree that Microraptor had

6300-477: The extent of the hindwings onto most of the animal's foot, many scientists have suggested that Microraptor would have been awkward during normal ground movement or running. The front wing feathers would also have hindered Microraptor when on the ground, due to the limited range of motion in the wrist and the extreme length of the wing feathers. A 2010 study by Corwin Sullivan and colleagues showed that, even with

6405-489: The fact Microraptor could fly and yet is also very clearly a dromaeosaurid suggests that the Dromaeosauridae , including later and larger species such as Deinonychus , were secondarily flightless. The work of Xu and colleagues also suggested that the ancestors of dromaeosaurids were probably small, arboreal, and capable of gliding , although later discoveries of more primitive dromaeosaurids with short forelimbs unsuitable for gliding have cast doubt on this view. Work done on

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6510-472: The feather bases extended close to or in contact with the bones, as in modern birds, providing strong anchor points. It was originally thought that Microraptor was a glider , and probably lived mainly in trees, because the hindwings anchored to the feet of Microraptor would have hindered their ability to run on the ground. Some paleontologists have suggested that feathered dinosaurs used their wings to parachute from trees, possibly to attack or ambush prey on

6615-474: The first dinosaur known to have flight feathers on its legs as well as on its arms. Czerkas (2002) mistakenly described the fossil as having no long feathers on its legs, but only on its hands and arms, as he illustrated on the cover of his book Feathered Dinosaurs and the Origin of Flight . In his discussion of Cryptovolans in this book, Czerkas strongly denounces Norell's conclusions; "The misinterpretation of

6720-426: The first non- avialan dinosaurs discovered with the impressions of feathers and wings. Seven specimens of M. zhaoianus have been described in detail, from which most feather impressions are known. 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

6825-438: The forewings and hindwings must have been on different levels (as on a biplane ) and not overlaid (as on a dragonfly ), and that the latter posture would have been anatomically impossible. Using this biplane model, Chatterjee was able to calculate possible methods of gliding and determined that Microraptor most likely employed a phugoid style of gliding: launching itself from a perch, the animal would have swooped downward in

6930-472: The formal requirements for establishing a new taxon. Namely, Olson designated the specimen as a lectotype , before an actual type species was formally erected. A similar situation arose with Tyrannosaurus rex and Manospondylus gigas , in which the former became a nomen protectum and the latter a nomen oblitum due to revisions in the ICZN rules that took place on December 31, 1999. In addition, Xu's name for

7035-399: The genus is represented by more fossils than any other dromaeosaurid, with possibly over 300 fossil specimens represented across various museum collections. One specimen in particular shows evidence of active primary feather moulting , which is one of the few known fossil evidence of such behavior among pennaraptoran dinosaurs. The initial naming of Microraptor was controversial, because of

7140-495: The ground, as a precursor to gliding or true flight. In their 2007 study, Chatterjee and Templin tested this hypothesis as well, and found that the combined wing surface of Microraptor was too narrow to successfully parachute to the ground without injury from any significant height. However, the authors did leave open the possibility that Microraptor could have parachuted short distances, as between closely spaced tree branches. Wind tunnel experiments have demonstrated that sustaining

7245-439: The infinitive entirely (employing a raft of new periphrastic constructions instead) and uses participles more restrictively. The loss of the dative led to a rise of prepositional indirect objects (and the use of the genitive to directly mark these as well). Ancient Greek tended to be verb-final, but neutral word order in the modern language is VSO or SVO. Modern Greek inherits most of its vocabulary from Ancient Greek, which in turn

7350-403: The inventory numbers LPM 0200, the holotype ; LPM 0201, its counterslab (slab and counterslab together represent the earlier BPM 1 3-13); and the paratype LPM 0159, a smaller skeleton. Both individuals are preserved as articulated compression fossils; they are reasonably complete but partially damaged. Czerkas et al. (2002) diagnosed the genus on the basis of having primary feathers (which in

7455-467: The late 15th century BC, was the first script used to write Greek. It is basically a syllabary , which was finally deciphered by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick in the 1950s (its precursor, Linear A , has not been deciphered and most likely encodes a non-Greek language). The language of the Linear B texts, Mycenaean Greek , is the earliest known form of Greek. Another similar system used to write

7560-521: The legs of Microraptor were true flight feathers as seen in modern birds , with asymmetrical vanes on the arm, leg, and tail feathers. As in modern bird wings, Microraptor had both primary (anchored to the hand) and secondary (anchored to the arm) flight feathers. This standard wing pattern was mirrored on the hindlegs, with flight feathers anchored to the upper foot bones as well as the upper and lower leg. Though not apparent in most fossils under natural light, due to obstruction from decayed soft tissue,

7665-603: The lizard and before significant digestion had occurred. Greek language Greek ( Modern Greek : Ελληνικά , romanized :  Elliniká , [eliniˈka] ; Ancient Greek : Ἑλληνική , romanized :  Hellēnikḗ ) is an Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece , Cyprus , Italy (in Calabria and Salento ), southern Albania , and other regions of

7770-576: The membership of Greece and Cyprus in the European Union, Greek is one of the organization's 24 official languages . Greek is recognized as a minority language in Albania, and used co-officially in some of its municipalities, in the districts of Gjirokastër and Sarandë . It is also an official minority language in the regions of Apulia and Calabria in Italy. In the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , Greek

7875-511: The model used by Alexander and his team, noting that the hip anatomy was not consistent with other dromaeosaurs. In most dromaeosaurids, features of the hip bone prevent the legs from splaying horizontally; instead, they are locked in a vertical position below the body. Alexander's team used a specimen of Microraptor which was crushed flat to make their model, which Brougham and Brusatte argued did not reflect its actual anatomy. Later in 2010, Alexander's team responded to these criticisms, noting that

7980-417: The modern configuration. In 2010 researchers announced that further preparation of the type fossil of M. zhaoianus revealed preserved probable gut contents, and a full study on them was later published in 2022 by David Hone and colleagues. These consisted of the remains of a mammal, primarily a complete and articulated right foot (including all tarsals , metatarsals , and most of the phalanges ) as well as

8085-441: The modern period. The division into conventional periods is, as with all such periodizations, relatively arbitrary, especially because, in all periods, Ancient Greek has enjoyed high prestige, and the literate borrowed heavily from it. Across its history, the syllabic structure of Greek has varied little: Greek shows a mixed syllable structure, permitting complex syllabic onsets but very restricted codas. It has only oral vowels and

8190-404: The most biologically and aerodynamically consistent configuration for Microraptor . A further analysis by Brougham and Brusatte, however, concluded that Alexander's model reconstruction was not consistent with all of the available data on Microraptor and argued that the study was insufficient for determining a likely flight pattern for Microraptor . Brougham and Brusatte criticized the anatomy of

8295-399: The noun they modify and relative pronouns are clause-initial. However, the morphological changes also have their counterparts in the syntax, and there are also significant differences between the syntax of the ancient and that of the modern form of the language . Ancient Greek made great use of participial constructions and of constructions involving the infinitive, and the modern variety lacks

8400-706: The older periods of Greek, loanwords into Greek acquired Greek inflections, thus leaving only a foreign root word. Modern borrowings (from the 20th century on), especially from French and English, are typically not inflected; other modern borrowings are derived from Albanian , South Slavic ( Macedonian / Bulgarian ) and Eastern Romance languages ( Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian ). Greek words have been widely borrowed into other languages, including English. Example words include: mathematics , physics , astronomy , democracy , philosophy , athletics , theatre, rhetoric , baptism , evangelist , etc. Moreover, Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as

8505-545: The plumage coloration of Microraptor based on the new specimen BMNHC PH881, which also showed several other features previously unknown in Microraptor . 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. These rod-shaped, narrow melanosomes were arranged in stacked layers, much like those of

8610-541: The predominant sources of international scientific vocabulary . Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, or possibly earlier. The earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the world's oldest recorded living language . Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation

8715-485: The primary wing feathers as being from the hind legs stems directly to [ sic ] seeing what one believes and wants to see". Czerkas also denounced Norell for failing to conclude that dromaeosaurs are birds, accusing him of succumbing to "...the blinding influences of preconceived ideas." The crown group definition of Aves, as a subset of Avialae , the explicit definition of the term "bird" that Norell employs, would definitely exclude BPM 1 3-13. However, he does not consider

8820-698: The question of flight ability in other paravians, however, showed that most of them probably would not have been able to achieve enough lift for powered flight, given their limited flight strokes and relatively smaller wings. These studies concluded that Microraptor probably evolved flight and its associated features (fused sternum, alula, etc.) independently of the ancestors of birds. In 2024, Kiat and O'Connor analyzed that Mesozoic birds and Microraptor had remex morphologies that are consistent with modern volant birds, while anchiornithids and Caudipteryx were secondarily flightless. Sankar Chatterjee suggested in 2005 that, in order for Microraptor to glide or fly,

8925-450: The question of whether the evolution of flight in modern birds went through a four-winged stage, or whether four-winged gliders like Microraptor were an evolutionary side-branch that left no descendants. As early as 1915, naturalist William Beebe had argued that the evolution of bird flight may have gone through a four-winged (or tetrapteryx ) stage. Chatterjee and Templin did not take a strong stance on this possibility, noting that both

9030-438: The related dromaeosaur Hesperonychus , which is known from complete hip bones preserved in three dimensions, also shows hip sockets directed partially upward, possibly allowing the legs to splay more than in other dromaeosaurs. However, Hartman and colleagues suggested that Hesperonychus is not a dromaeosaur, but actually an avialan close to modern birds like Balaur bondoc based on phylogenetic analyses in 2019. Due to

9135-405: The reliability of these interpretations and wrote that both could just as equally be attributed to scavenging. Further, they argued against Microraptor being a specialist in either or both arboreal or aquatic hunting, citing the broad range of vertebrate gut contents (i.e. fish, mammals, lizards, birds) as evidence for a generalist hunting strategy, and that neither required that Microraptor being

9240-479: The shafts of additional long bones and potentially other fragments. The foot skeleton is similar to those of Eomaia and Sinodelphys . It corresponds to an animal with an estimated snout to vent length of 80 mm (3.1 in) and a mass of 13–43 g (0.46–1.52 oz). The unguals of the foot are less curved than in Eomaia or Sinodelphys , indicating that the mammal could climb but less effectively than in

9345-451: The specimen showed a probable adaptation to a fish-eating diet, pointing to the first three teeth of the mandible being inclined anterodorsally, a characteristic often associated with piscivory. They concluded that Microraptor was an opportunistic feeder, hunting the most common prey in both arboreal and aquatic habitats. Both of these studies regarded each gut contents as instances of predation. However, Hone and colleagues (2022) questioned

9450-458: The specimen to belong to Avialae either. Czerkas's interpretation of the hindleg feathers noted by Norell proved to be incorrect the following year when additional specimens of Microraptor were published by Xu and colleagues, showing a distinctive "hindwing" completely separate from the forelimb wing. The first of these specimens was discovered in 2001, and between 2001 and 2003 four more specimens were bought from private collectors by Xu's museum,

9555-437: The stressed vowel; the so-called breathing marks ( rough and smooth breathing ), originally used to signal presence or absence of word-initial /h/; and the diaeresis , used to mark the full syllabic value of a vowel that would otherwise be read as part of a diphthong. These marks were introduced during the course of the Hellenistic period. Actual usage of the grave in handwriting saw a rapid decline in favor of uniform usage of

9660-427: The two latter genera and so was likely not arboreal but potentially scansorial. It is ambiguous whether the mammal had been predated upon or scavenged by the Microraptor , although the lack of other definitive body parts consumed may suggest the low-muscle mass foot may have been eaten during a late stage of carcass consumption, possibly through scavenging. The find is a rare example of a theropod definitively consuming

9765-445: The type specimen ( Microraptor ) was subsequently used more frequently than the original name; as such, this and the chimeric nature of the specimen would render the name "Archaeoraptor" a nomen vanum (as it was improperly described) and the junior synonym Microraptor a nomen protectum (as it's been used in more published works than "Archaeoraptor" and was properly described). The first specimen referred to Microraptor represented

9870-590: The unusual circumstances of its first description. The first specimen to be described was part of a chimeric specimen—a patchwork of different feathered dinosaur species ( Microraptor itself, Yanornis and an as-of-yet undescribed third species) assembled from multiple specimens in China and smuggled to the USA for sale . After the forgery was revealed by Xu Xing of Beijing 's Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology , Storrs L. Olson , curator of birds in

9975-447: The various stages of the Greek language are often emphasized. Although Greek has undergone morphological and phonological changes comparable to those seen in other languages, never since classical antiquity has its cultural, literary, and orthographic tradition been interrupted to the extent that one can speak of a new language emerging. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than

10080-529: The vernacular form of Modern Greek proper, and Katharevousa , meaning 'purified', a compromise between Dimotiki and Ancient Greek developed in the early 19th century that was used for literary and official purposes in the newly formed Greek state. In 1976, Dimotiki was declared the official language of Greece, after having incorporated features of Katharevousa and thus giving birth to Standard Modern Greek , used today for all official purposes and in education . The historical unity and continuing identity between

10185-527: The wing folded as far as possible, the feathers would still have dragged along the ground if the arms were held in a neutral position, or extended forward as in a predatory strike. Only by keeping the wings elevated, or the upper arm extended fully backward, could Microraptor have avoided damaging the wing feathers. Therefore, it may have been anatomically impossible for Microraptor to have used its clawed forelimbs in capturing prey or manipulating objects. The unique wing arrangement found in Microraptor raised

10290-574: Was a distinct dialect of Greek itself. Aside from the Macedonian question, current consensus regards Phrygian as the closest relative of Greek, since they share a number of phonological, morphological and lexical isoglosses , with some being exclusive between them. Scholars have proposed a Graeco-Phrygian subgroup out of which Greek and Phrygian originated. Among living languages, some Indo-Europeanists suggest that Greek may be most closely related to Armenian (see Graeco-Armenian ) or

10395-568: Was also used as the official language of government and religion in the Christian Nubian kingdoms , for most of their history. Greek, in its modern form, is the official language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population. It is also the official language of Cyprus (nominally alongside Turkish ) and the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (alongside English ). Because of

10500-557: Was also used in Ancient Greek. Greek has occasionally been written in the Latin script , especially in areas under Venetian rule or by Greek Catholics . The term Frankolevantinika / Φραγκολεβαντίνικα applies when the Latin script is used to write Greek in the cultural ambit of Catholicism (because Frankos / Φράγκος is an older Greek term for West-European dating to when most of (Roman Catholic Christian) West Europe

10605-411: Was capable of true, powered flight, as opposed to or in addition to passive gliding. The resulting data showed that Microraptor did have the requirements to sustain level powered flight, so it is theoretically possible that the animal flew, as opposed to gliding. Some paleontologists have doubted the biplane hypothesis, and have proposed other configurations. A 2010 study by Alexander et al. described

10710-580: Was derived from Greek kryptos , "hidden", and Latin volans , "flying". The specific name , pauli , honors paleontologist Gregory S. Paul , who had long proposed that dromaeosaurids evolved from flying ancestors. The type specimens of C. pauli were collected from the Jiufotang Formation , dating from the early Albian and now belong to the collection of the Paleontology Museum of Beipiao, in Liaoning , China. They are referred to by

10815-788: Was named a New York City Leader of the Year by the New York Times . In 2000, he was honored as a distinguished Alumnus of California State University Long Beach . His popular science book, Discovering Dinosaurs, won Scientific American's Young Readers Book of the Year Award . Another of his books for the general public, entitled A Nest of Dinosaurs, was given an Orbis Pictus Award by the National Council of Teachers . Dinosaur Hunters (1996, written and directed by Kage Glantz credited as Kage Kleiner, narrated by Michael Carroll)

10920-580: Was under the control of the Frankish Empire ). Frankochiotika / Φραγκοχιώτικα (meaning 'Catholic Chiot') alludes to the significant presence of Catholic missionaries based on the island of Chios . Additionally, the term Greeklish is often used when the Greek language is written in a Latin script in online communications. The Latin script is nowadays used by the Greek-speaking communities of Southern Italy . The Yevanic dialect

11025-673: Was written by Romaniote and Constantinopolitan Karaite Jews using the Hebrew Alphabet . In a tradition, that in modern time, has come to be known as Greek Aljamiado , some Greek Muslims from Crete wrote their Cretan Greek in the Arabic alphabet . The same happened among Epirote Muslims in Ioannina . This also happened among Arabic-speaking Byzantine rite Christians in the Levant ( Lebanon , Palestine, and Syria ). This usage

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