What is the significance of the recently discovered

Solution

About 148 to 150 million years ago, a strange pheasant-sized and bird-like dinosaur with elongated legs and arms built much like wings inhabited southeastern China, with a puzzling anatomy suggesting it either was a fast runner or lived a lifestyle like a modern wading bird. Scientists unearthed in Fujian Province the fossil of a Jurassic Period dinosaur they named Fujianvenator prodigiosus - a creature that sheds light on a critical evolutionary stage in the origin of birds. Fujianvenator is a member of a grouping called avialans that includes all birds and their closest non-avian dinosaur relatives. The Fujianvenator fossil, discovered October 2022, is fairly complete but lacks the animal’s skull and parts of its feet, making it hard to interpret its diet and lifestyle. Fujianvenator’s lower leg bone - the tibia - was twice as long as its thigh bone - the femur.