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In recent years, it has become apparent that some dinosaurs – considered scaly and reptilian for many years – actually carried feathers. But a newly discovered species of scansoriopterygid dinosaur sports a different style. This tiny creature had wings in the shape of bats: leathery, feather-free
This is called Ambopteryx longibrachiumand it was only 33 centimeters (13 inches) long. The flying animal lived 163 million years ago, in the middle of the Jurassic, in present-day Liaoning Province, China.
His remains show us that flying in the dinosaurs was evolving decisively.
There are several species of scansoriopterygid dinosaurs. These were tiny non-avian animals the size of small parrots, belonging to the same suborder Theropoda, which also encompasses the mighty tyrannosaurs.
As a general rule, scansoriopterygids are rebuilt with feathered wings, but in 2015, paleontologists in China discovered a species they named Yi qi who had an elongated figure running from the wrist; this is called a styliform and the characteristic is more typical of a bat than a bird.
It was the first time that such a wing was seen in theropods, unlike pterosaurs or bats. But Y. qi was just a specimen, and not everyone was convinced.
A. longibrachiumtherefore adds considerable support to the notion of parallel evolution of the flight.
It has a similar bone structure, with a styliform supporting the membrane, but it's clearly not the same animal as Y. qi no more. It has a wider and longer front paw and a short tail with welded vertebrae at the end.
Obviously, no bird exists with this type of wing today, nor even survived in the Cretaceous. This means that it was probably a short-lived evolutionary experience that was eventually lost in favor of the feathered variety, the researchers noted in their article.
The search was published in Nature.
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