Palaeontologists from Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU) in Munich and the University of Fribourg have unearthed a new species of flying dinosaur that flapped its wings like a raven and could hold vital clues as to how modern-day birds evolved from their reptilian ancestors.
The scientists came across a petrified wing, which the team initially assumed to be the same species while examining rock formations in the German region of Bavaria which is home to nearly all known Archaeopteryx specimens. The new bird-like dinosaur was named Alcmonavis poeschli after Roland Poeschl, the scientist who discovered the fossil.
As well as being significantly larger than Archaeopteryx, the new specimen had more notches in its wing bones that pointed to muscles which would have allowed it to actively flap its wings. Significantly, this "flapping" trait found in Alcmonavis poeschli is present in more recent birds, but not in Archaeopteryx. The discovery is likely to fuel debate among dinosaur experts over whether birds and dinosaurs developed the ability to flap their wings from earlier gliding species.