Feather molt is an important life-history process in birds, but little is known about its evolutionary history. Here, we report on the first fossilized evidence of sequential wing feather molt, a common strategy among extant birds, identified in the Early Cretaceous four-winged dromaeosaurid Microraptor. Analysis of wing feather molt patterns and ecological properties in extant birds imply that Microraptor maintained its flight ability throughout the entire annual cycle, including the molt period. Therefore, we conclude that flight was essential for either its daily foraging or escaping from predators. Our findings propose that the development of sequential molt is the outcome of evolutionary forces to maintain flight capability throughout the entire annual cycle in both extant birds and non-avialan paravian dinosaurs from 120 mya.

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中文翻译：

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羽毛恐龙的顺序蜕皮以及对早期 Paravian 生态和运动的影响。

羽毛蜕皮是鸟类重要的生命史过程，但对其进化史知之甚少。在这里，我们报告了在早白垩世四翼驰龙科小盗龙中发现的连续翅膀羽毛蜕皮的第一个化石证据，这是现存鸟类的常见策略。现存鸟类翅膀羽毛蜕皮模式和生态特性的分析表明小盗龙在整个年度周期中保持其飞行能力，包括蜕皮期。因此，我们得出结论，飞行对于其日常觅食或逃离捕食者至关重要。我们的研究结果表明，在现存的鸟类和 120 米亚的非鸟类旁鸟类恐龙中，顺序蜕皮的发展是进化力量在整个年度周期中保持飞行能力的结果。

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