An exceptionally long-feathered fossil discovered in China is a new species of dinosaur that flew on four "wings."

The 125 million-year-old flying dinosaur called "Changyuraptor yangi" is the largest of its kind yet discovered. This flyer's tail feathers measure 30 cm long and are by far the longest feathers of any dinosaur known.

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An international team led by the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles County discovered the fossilized dinosaur in Liaoning Province in northeastern China. The fossils belong to a four-foot-long adult raptor that weighed about nine pounds, researchers said.

Analysis of the raptor's bone structure show the fossils belonged to a fully grown adult. The fossil's sharp serrated teeth indicated it was a predator that fed on birds, fish and other small mammals. 

"I've never seen anything like it," Luis Chiappe, a paleontologist of the Natural History Museum told the Washington Post.

"It is a stunning specimen and it was stunning to see the size of the feathers. There is nothing like this by a very good distance. The feathers were one-fourth the size of the animal."

"It's just wonderful," Chiappe added.

Changyuraptor is a part of Microraptorines, a group of predatory feathered dinosaurs that include few numbers of small four-winged species. The dinosaurs are called "four-winged" not because they have four wings but because their well-developed wings and long feathers attached to their hind legs give the appearance of four wings.

Researchers think the raptor's long feathered tail helped maintain balanced flight. An aerodynamic model to test the function of the tail found that the length of the tail feathers was important in reducing speed and ensuring safe landings.

The discovery of Changyuraptor has led to further knowledge into dinosaur flight, said a study in the bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal, Nature Communications.

It shows that these creatures were already flying before birds split-off from dinosaurs.

Tagschangyuraptor yangi, four-winged dinosaur, luis chiappe, natural history museum