Giant Flying Squirrels of Spain Soared the Forests

The wide skeleton was in pieces-and-scientists in Spain, originally thought in 2002, they had a primate from ancient times. Some paleoprimatologists monitor the work eagerly awaited the scientific implications.

But further investigation into the reality of what has been done in the past, what is the role of the fossil of a giant flying squirrel which dominated its ecological niche? eLife yesterday.

"Said Isaac Casanovas-Vilar, a research fellow at the Catalan Institute of Paleontology Miquel Crusafont.

The best claw is noted in the tiniest details of what remained: specialized wrist bones for the rodent's soaring activities. The miniscule fragments of the fossil only became apparent when "dirt" was attached to the skeleton was carefully screened, according to the paper.

Those wrest bones presented to the trove of data and discoveries, according to the Spanish team.

"It was anatomy diagnosed that the two subtribes of flying squirrels had already diverged at that time," they write. "Moreover, this new fossil allows for a recalibration of flying squirrel time of origin and diversification, providing somewhat older estimates than previous molecular analyzes."

The dating of Miopetaurista neogrivensis-An extinct flying squirrel-shows the fossil to 11.6 million years old. Data compared with other fossils, indicates that the criteria were soaring the ancient Spanish forests for millions of years, with relatively few evolutionary changes, according to their analysis.

The extinct Miopetaurista evolved from tree squirrel ancestors between 31 and 25 million years ago and millions of years previously believed, according to the scientists.

The extinct critter could reach almost four pounds, according to the skull-to-mass estimates. (For comparison, Eastern gray squirrels currently in North America.

Current-day flying squirrels, which are scattered from 52 species across the globe, still exist today. Two species in the tropics and subtropics of Asia are close to "be considered living fossils," according to the researchers.