Ancient lizards used their ribs to help them glide through the air, a new fossil find has revealed. It shows a wing-like membrane spread over elongated ribs
Xing Xu, at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, China, and colleagues discovered the specimen, of the species Xianglong zhaoi, in the Liaoning Province of the country. The fossil is 125 million years old and measures 15.5 centimetres long, including a slender 9.5-centimetre tail.
The animal has eight elongated ribs on each side that support a superbly preserved wing-like membrane. They note the membrane is in a half-open position, which probably reflects folding of the wing after the lizard's death.
The structure probably helped the lizards glide through the air to catch insect prey, the researchers speculate.
Previous excavations revealed that the Coelurosaurovus, Icarosaurus and Kuehneosaurus reptiles found in Germany, North America and UK, respectively, all had similar rib-supported wings. These creatures belonged to the Permian and Triassic geologic periods, about 200 to 300 million years ago.
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