Aerodynamic performance of the feathered dinosaur Microraptor and the evolution of feathered flight
Open accessAbstract
Understanding the aerodynamic performance of feathered, non-avialan dinosaurs is critical to reconstructing the evolution of bird flight. Here we show that the Early Cretaceous five-winged paravian Microraptor is most stable when gliding at high-lift coefficients (low lift/drag ratios). Wind tunnel experiments and flight simulations show that sustaining a high-lift coefficient at the expense of high drag would have been the most efficient strategy for Microraptor when gliding from, and between, low elevations. Analyses also demonstrate that anatomically plausible changes in wing configuration and leg position would have made little difference to aerodynamic performance. Significant to the evolution of flight, we show that Microraptor did not require a sophisticated, 'modern' wing morphology to undertake effective glides. This is congruent with the fossil record and also with the hypothesis that symmetric 'flight' feathers first evolved in dinosaurs for non-aerodynamic functions, later being adapted to form lifting surfaces.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Microraptor was capable of generating sufficient speed and flight forces for a ground-based takeoff, within the range of values estimated for an arboreal launch.
“In all cases, we found that Microraptor was capable of generating sufficient speed and flight forces for a ground-based takeoff and were within the range of values estimated for an arboreal launch [19, 20, 22].”
From Potential for Powered Flight Neared by Most Close Avialan Relatives, but Few Crossed Its Thresholds (2020) · cites this paper as [20]
The Discussion (page unavailable in our copy) says an initial push-off would generate only a small horizontal velocity and that most necessary flight speed had to come from falling under gravity. The paper models glides from elevated positions, not a ground-based takeoff capable of generating sufficient speed and flight forces. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Checked by a reasoning model — may be wrong.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Anderson, J. D., & Hunter, L. P. (2021) · Cited by 488 · see citing works
Four-winged dinosaurs from China
Xu, X., Zhou, Z., Wang, X., Kuang, X., Zhang, F., & Du, X. (2003) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature01342 · Cited by 485 · see citing works
(2008) · Theoretical ecology/Theoretical ecology series · doi:10.1016/s1875-306x(08)x0002-4 · Cited by 383 · see citing works
A pre-Archaeopteryx troodontid theropod from China with long feathers on the metatarsus
Hu, D., Hou, L., Zhang, L., & Xu, X. (2009) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature08322 · Cited by 365 · see citing works
How swifts control their glide performance with morphing wings
Lentink, D., Müller, U. K., Stamhuis, E. J., de Kat, R., van Gestel, W., Veldhuis, L. L. M., Henningsson, P., Hedenström, A., Videler, J. J., & LEEUWEN, J. L. V. (2007) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature05733 · Cited by 355 · see citing works
A Review of Dromaeosaurid Systematics and Paravian Phylogeny
Turner, A. H., Makovicky, P. J., & Norell, M. A. (2012) · Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History · doi:10.1206/748.1 · Cited by 350 · see citing works
Flight Speeds among Bird Species: Allometric and Phylogenetic Effects
Alerstam, T., Rosén, M., Bäckman, J., Ericson, P. G. P., & Hellgren, O. (2007) · PLoS Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050197 · Cited by 287 · see citing works
Reconstruction of <i>Microraptor</i> and the Evolution of Iridescent Plumage
Li, Q., Gao, K.-Q., Meng, Q., Clarke, J. A., Shawkey, M. D., D’Alba, L., Pei, R., Ellison, M., Norell, M. A., & Vinther, J. (2012) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1213780 · Cited by 192 · see citing works
Animal Flight Dynamics I. Stability in Gliding Flight
Thomas, A. L. R., & Taylor, G. K. (2001) · Journal of Theoretical Biology · doi:10.1006/jtbi.2001.2387 · Cited by 189 · see citing works
A new maniraptoran dinosaur from China with long feathers on the metatarsus
Xu, X., & Zhang, F. (2005) · Naturwissenschaften · doi:10.1007/s00114-004-0604-y · Cited by 143 · see citing works
Reduced plumage and flight ability of a new Jurassic paravian theropod from China
Godefroit, P., Demuynck, H., Dyke, G., Hu, D., Escuillié, F., & Claeys, P. (2013) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/ncomms2389 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
Self-citationHind Wings in Basal Birds and the Evolution of Leg Feathers
Zheng, X., Zhou, Z., Wang, X., Zhang, F., Zhang, X., Wang, Y., Wei, G., Wang, S., & Xu, X. (2013) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1228753 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Earls, K. D. (2000) · Journal of Experimental Biology · doi:10.1242/jeb.203.4.725 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
A microraptorine (Dinosauria–Dromaeosauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of North America
Longrich, N., & Currie, P. (2009) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · doi:10.1073/pnas.0811664106 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
From extant to extinct: locomotor ontogeny and the evolution of avian flight
Heers, A. M., & Dial, K. P. (2012) · Trends in Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.tree.2011.12.003 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
Dinosaurs of the Air: The Evolution and Loss of Flight in Dinosaurs and Birds
Paul, G. (2002) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.40-1565 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Feathered Non-Avian Dinosaurs from North America Provide Insight into Wing Origins
Zelenitsky, D. K., Therrien, F., Erickson, G. M., DeBuhr, C. L., Kobayashi, Y., Eberth, D. A., & Hadfield, F. (2012) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1225376 · Cited by 104 · see citing works
Paul, G. (2002) · doi:10.56021/9780801867637 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
Biplane wing planform and flight performance of the feathered dinosaur <i>Microraptor gui</i>
Chatterjee, S., & Templin, R. J. (2007) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0609975104 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Oviraptorosaur tail forms and functions
Persons, S. (2013) · Acta Palaeontologica Polonica · doi:10.4202/app.2012.0093 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Glorified Dinosaurs: The Origin and Early Evolution of Birds.
(2007) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.44-6236 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
(2011) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781119990475 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Alexander, D. E., Gong, E., Martin, L. D., Burnham, D. A., & Falk, A. R. (2010) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0911852107 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Birn-Jeffery, A. V., Miller, C. E., Naish, D., Rayfield, E. J., & Hone, D. W. E. (2012) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050555 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Self-citationAerodynamics of gliding flight in common swifts
Henningsson, P., & Hedenström, A. (2011) · Journal of Experimental Biology · doi:10.1242/jeb.050609 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Bahlman, J. W., Swartz, S. M., Riskin, D. K., & Breuer, K. (2012) · Journal of The Royal Society Interface · doi:10.1098/rsif.2012.0794 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
The spectrum of animal flight: insects to pterosaurs
Templin, R. J. (2000) · Progress in Aerospace Sciences · doi:10.1016/s0376-0421(00)00007-5 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Structure and function of hindlimb feathers in <i>Archaeopteryx lithographica</i>
Longrich, N. (2006) · Paleobiology · doi:10.1666/04014.1 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
A tetrapteryx stage in the ancestry of birds
Beebe, W. (1915) · Zoologica scientific contributions of the New York Zoological Society · doi:10.5962/p.203781 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
PISCIVORY IN THE FEATHERED DINOSAUR MICRORAPTOR
Xing, L., Persons, W., Bell, P. R., Xu, X., Zhang, J., Miyashita, T., Wang, F.-P., & Currie, P. (2013) · Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · doi:10.1111/evo.12119 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Evolution of the Avian Brain and Senses
Walsh, S., & Milner, A. (2011) · Living Dinosaurs · doi:10.1002/9781119990475.ch11 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
FORELIMB POSTURE IN DINOSAURS AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE AVIAN FLAPPING FLIGHT-STROKE
Nudds, R. L., & Dyke, G. J. (2009) · Evolution · doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.2009.00613.x · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Self-citationUsing Physical Models to Study the Gliding Performance of Extinct Animals
Koehl, M. A. R., Evangelista, D., & Yang, K. (2011) · Integrative and Comparative Biology · doi:10.1093/icb/icr112 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
The primary feather lengths of early birds with respect to avian wing shape evolution
WANG, X., Nudds, R. L., & Dyke, G. J. (2011) · Journal of Evolutionary Biology · doi:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2011.02253.x · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Self-citationOn the origin of avian flight: Compromise and system approaches
Kurochkin, E., & Bogdanovich, I. A. (2008) · Biology Bulletin · doi:10.1134/s1062359008010019 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Distorted <i>Microraptor</i> specimen is not ideal for understanding the origin of avian flight
Brougham, J., & Brusatte, S. L. (2010) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1004977107 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Morphological and Behavioral Correlates of Flapping Flight
Tobalske, B. W., Warrick, D. R., Jackson, B. E., & Dial, K. P. (2011) · doi:10.1002/9781119990475.ch10 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Locomotor ontogeny and the evolution of avian flight
Heers, A. M. (2013) · The Mathematics Enthusiast · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Walsh, S. & Milner, A. In Living Dinosaurs: the Evolutionary History of Modern Birds (eds Dyke, G. J. & Kaiser, G.) 282-305 (Wiley, 2011).
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The origin and diversification of birds
Brusatte, S. L., O’Connor, J. K., & Jarvis, E. D. (2015) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2015.08.003 · Cited by 334 · see citing works
An integrative approach to understanding bird origins
Xu, X., Zhou, Z., Dudley, R., Mackem, S., Chuong, C.-M., Erickson, G. M., & Varricchio, D. J. (2014) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1253293 · Cited by 319 · see citing works
Potential for Powered Flight Neared by Most Close Avialan Relatives, but Few Crossed Its Thresholds
Pei, R., Pittman, M., Goloboff, P. A., Dececchi, T. A., Habib, M. B., Kaye, T. G., Larsson, H. C. E., Norell, M. A., Brusatte, S. L., & Xu, X. (2020) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2020.06.105 · Cited by 137 · see citing works
“Because the taxon Microraptor is crucial to our analyses, we included several mass and wing area estimate permutations (see text) labeled as follows: Allen 2013, Allen et al., 2013 [76]; C& T 2007, Chatterjee and Templin, 2007 [19]; and Dyke 2013, Dyke et al., 2013 [20].”
InfluentialHan, G., Chiappe, L. M., Ji, S.-A., Habib, M., Turner, A. H., Chinsamy, A., Liu, X., & Han, L. (2014) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/ncomms5382 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
Mosaic evolution in an asymmetrically feathered troodontid dinosaur with transitional features
Xu, X., Currie, P., Pittman, M., Xing, L., Meng, Q., Lü, J., Hu, D., & Yu, C. (2017) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/ncomms14972 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Lü, J., & Brusatte, S. L. (2015) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/srep11775 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
The wings before the bird: an evaluation of flapping-based locomotory hypotheses in bird antecedents
Dececchi, T. A., Larsson, H. C. E., & Habib, M. B. (2016) · PeerJ · doi:10.7717/peerj.2159 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Functional constraints on the number and shape of flight feathers
Kiat, Y., & O’Connor, J. K. (2024) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2306639121 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Brusatte, S. L. (2017) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aal2397 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
- Authors
- Dyke, G., de Kat, R., Palmer, C., van der Kindere, J., Naish, D., & Ganapathisubramani, B.
- Affiliations
- National Oceanography Centre (GB)
- University of Southampton (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Dyke, Gareth
- Venue
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2013-09-18
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 2489-2489
- ISSN
- 2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2119815062
- Cited by
- 77
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 8
- FWCI
- 4.06
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature Communications (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/J501530/1)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Biomimetic flight and propulsion mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Fossil Insects in Amber
- Keywords
- Microraptor, feathered dinosaurs, aerodynamic performance, gliding flight, paravians, lift-to-drag ratio, wing morphology, leg position, Lower Cretaceous
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Biomechanical Phenomena, Biological Evolution, Feathers, Flight, Animal, Fossils, Models, Anatomic, Phylogeny, Wind, Wings, Animal, Dinosaurs
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
