[ad_1]
An artist's view of Ambopteryx.
A new dinosaur species with bat-shaped wings has been discovered in China, highlighting the origin of the flight and evolution of dinosaurs into birds.
The fossilized remains of the dinosaur were discovered in 2017 in Liaoning, in northeastern China. They first confused Min Pal, a Chinese paleontologist and lead author of a study published this week on the new dinosaur. It is called Ambopteryx longibrachium.
"It was nothing like a bird. Nothing like a dinosaur, "Wang said. But further study has shown that it was actually a tiny therapeutic dinosaur with unique forelimbs and membranous wings.
This 163 million-year-old fossil is only the second to show a dinosaur with bat-like wings, although this feature is visible in prehistoric flying squirrels, bats and flying pterosaurs.
The only other dinosaur with this feature is the Yiqi, described in 2015 and highly controversial by paleontologists.
"Some people were not convinced by Yiqi. Soft tissues are not easily preserved in the fossil record, "added Wang.
Wang said the soft tissue found in the Ambopteryx fossil provided more evidence of a flight similar to that of a bat.
However, Wang says that it is unlikely that the tiny dinosaur, which would have been 32 cm long and weighed about 306 grams (10 ounces), would have been able to flap its wings.
"I would vote for a glide. The most important feature is that he has no flying muscle – the sternum – which would have allowed him to flap his wings. "
Yiqi and Ambopteryx both belong to a small family of dinosaurs called scansoriopterygids.
China has been at the forefront of many recent discoveries of dinosaurs, especially feathered fossils that have shown a direct link between dinosaurs and birds.
Most of the most dramatic discoveries were made at the fossil site where the Ambopteryx fossil was discovered – in Liaoning Province.
Here, 100 million years ago, the dinosaurs died en masse, caught in a series of volcanic eruptions, leaving behind a treasure of exquisitely preserved fossils, with a level of detail visible on some other sites.
Wang says that the bats-like membranous wings were probably an evolutionary experience in failed flight, as the flying dinosaurs all had feathered wings.
"Until now, all known scansoriopterygids are Upper Jurassic – this unique membranous wing structure has not survived until the Cretaceous," he said.
"I hope we can find more of these dinosaurs to learn about the transition of dinosaur birds and the evolution of flying in dinosaurs," he added.
[ad_2]
Source link