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Observatory

New Find Hints at More Feathered Dinosaurs

An artist's impression of Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus, a newly discovered dinosaur from the Jurassic Period that had feathers.Credit...Illustration by Andrey Atuchin

A new dinosaur species, one with feathers, has been discovered in Russia. The finding could mean that feathers were more widespread among dinosaurs than previously thought, the researchers say.

The dinosaur, described in the journal Science, was about five feet long and belonged to a group of herbivorous, beaked dinosaurs known as ornithischia.

The first feathered dinosaur was discovered in China in 1996. A number of others have been found since then, but those specimens were all theropods, the suborder that includes Tyrannosaurus rex.

“For the first time, we have found a dinosaur outside of the theropod lineage,” said the new study’s first author, Pascal Godefroit, a paleontologist at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.

Theropods and ornithischians split about 220 million years ago, he said, adding: “This means that feathers probably existed in the common ancestors of both lineages. And all the descendants of this common ancestor potentially could have feathers as well.”

But proving it would be a challenge, he said. Feathers are not often fossilized, and paleontologists rarely find traces of them.

Dr. Godefroit said he hoped other feathers might be found near the newly discovered dinosaur. His finding was based on six partial skeletons and hundreds of bones in two neighboring locations.

If other species of dinosaurs were covered with feathers, then museum models, often depicted with leathery, scaly skin, may need to be changed.

“Perhaps it’s better to represent them as big chickens,” Dr. Godefroit said. “Maybe T. rex was some kind of big chicken.”

SINDYA N. BHANOO

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section D, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Fossils: New Find Hints at More Feathered Dinosaurs. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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