Jian, new microraptorine from Lower Cretaceous of Gansu Province, China (free pdf)

[Ben Creisler]

Ben Creisler

bcre...@gmail.com

A new paper not yet mentioned:

Free pdf:

Jian changmaensis gen. et sp. nov.


Ling-Qi Zhou, Matthew C. Lamanna, Ashley W. Poust, Da-Qing Li, Hai-Lu You & Jingmai K. O’Connor (2026)
First non-avian theropod (Dromaeosauridae, Microraptorinae) from the bird-bearing Lower Cretaceous Xiagou Formation of the Changma Basin, Gansu Province, Northwestern China
Annals of Carnegie Museum 92(2): 89–110
https://carnegiemnh.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Jian-changmaensis-Annals-of-Carnegie-Museum.pdf


Lacustrine sediments of the Lower Cretaceous (lower Aptian) Xiagou Formation exposed near the village of Changma in the Changma Basin of northwestern Gansu Province, China have yielded more than 100 avian partial skeletons, many of which also preserve remnants of soft tissues such as feathers and skin. Collectively, these fossils characterize a rich avifauna dominated by the crownward ornithuromorph Gansus yumenensis Hou and Liu, 1984. Despite this wealth of Early Cretaceous bird material, no skeletal remains of other dinosaurs have been described from Changma to date. Here we report the first non-avian dinosaur body fossil from the Xiagou Formation of the Changma Basin. Consisting of an articulated left pectoral girdle and forelimb lacking the carpus and manus, the specimen pertains to a new dromaeosaurid theropod taxon, Jian changmaensis, gen. et sp. nov. Phylogenetic analysis recovers Jian within Microraptorinae, expanding the definitive fossil record of this clade to include northwestern China. The new Changma microraptorine constitutes an additional similarity between the theropod faunas of the Xiagou Formation of the Changma Basin and penecontemporaneous strata of the Jehol Group of northeastern China. In particular, the Changma theropod assemblage closely resembles that of the Sihedang locality of the Jehol Group in that both include representatives of Microraptorinae and are overwhelmingly dominated by single ornithuromorph taxa that phylogenetic analyses have repeatedly resolved as close relatives. This raises the possibility that the two sites were deposited under comparable paleoenvironmental settings that are otherwise poorly represented at known Jehol localities.

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News:

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1130828

https://www.sci.news/paleontology/jian-changmaensis-14819.html

https://www.livescience.com/animals/dinosaurs/new-velociraptor-cousin-was-a-4-winged-dragon-that-hunted-prey-from-the-trees-of-ancient-china-fossil-find-hints

https://novataxa.blogspot.com/2026/06

[Tim Williams]

The news articles seem to be focused on aspects of _Jian_'s ecology that are not mentioned at all in the description: climbing and gliding behavior by it and other "microraptors".  Some of these news articles even compare them to flying squirrels in their abilities to climb and glide from tree to tree.

After reading Giannini and Cannell's manuscript on the evolution of aerial mammals (recently posted to the list - thanks Ben!), I'm even more skeptical than ever that microraptors were capable of gliding.  According to Giannini and Cannell, the evolutionary path to gliding passes through a continuum of stages: terrestrial (ancestral) --> scansorial --> arboreal --> gliding.  Specialized arboreality is a prerequisite to gliding.  

The 'gliding microraptor'  hypothesis implies that they bypassed the arboreal stage, and went straight from terrestrial/scansorial to gliding.  For some reason microraptors get special consideration, unlike the ancestors of gliding mammals such as flying squirrels and colugos, which had to clear this 'arboreal barrier' on the way to becoming specialized for gliding.

Personally, I thought the 'gliding microraptor' hypothesis was dead.  With abundant evidence that _Microraptor_ was capable of powered flight, and little if any evidence that it was arboreal (or even scansorial), what was the point?  Yet, this Feduccia-esque notion of tree-dwelling, gliding microraptors refuses to die.

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[Mickey Mortimer]

Hey look, "Jian" gives a lot of Google results about a sword first. And Kank is a Hindi movie and family of proteins. Can we please stop giving dinosaurs these STUPID short names that are already words and give them unique words for names that won't get screwed by Search Engine Optimization? E.g. Jianraptor... Kankovenator... it's EASY! WHY won't people do this?! "Yeah, my next dinosaur is going to be named The..."

Mickey Mortimer

[Tim Williams]

Mickey Mortimer <therizino...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hey look, "Jian" gives a lot of Google results about a sword first. And Kank is a Hindi movie and family of proteins. Can we please stop giving dinosaurs these STUPID short names that are

> already words and give them unique words for names that won't get screwed by Search Engine Optimization? E.g. Jianraptor... Kankovenator... it's EASY! WHY won't people do this?! "

To be fair, the names are binomial (_Jian changmaensis_, _Kank_ australis_, etc).

At least genus names like _Jian_, _Kank_, _Beg_, _Hexing_ etc are sourced from local languages or dialects.  I much prefer them to clunky, poorly combined, multisyllabic Greek/Latin names like _Notatesseraeraptor_, _Aberratiodontus_, or _Brevirostruavis_.

Short genus names that are already words are not unique to dinosaurs, and are as old as zoological nomenclature.  Linnaeus himself named a genus of amoeba _Chaos_.  There's an arachnid genus _Oops_, a scarab genus _Enema_, and a bee genus _Samba_.  There's also a fossil mammal named _Crash_.  Using the binomen doesn't help with this last one, given the full name is _Crash bandicoot_.

> "Yeah, my next dinosaur is going to be named The..."

I can easily imagine this happening in modern entomology.