This 163-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Had Bat Wings, And Hopefully It Will Help Solve The Mysteries Of Dinosaur Flight
In 2019, scientists found the remains of a dinosaur with wings that resemble those of a bat. The 163-million-year-old fossils were collected in Liaoning Province in China.
At first, the paleontologists thought the discovery was of a bird. But when they took a closer look, the team saw distinct features that confirmed it was actually a dinosaur, which pointed to another entirely different evolutionary track that led to the development of flying dinosaurs.
The specimen was named Ambopteryx longibrachium. Its fossils were in such good condition that soft tissue around the creature’s arms and torso was preserved.
The tissue formed flaps of skin that were similar to a bat’s, which would not evolve for more than 100 million years.
Previously, it was believed that the pterosaur and modern bat mammals were the only lineages to develop membranous flaps for flight.
Ambopteryx’s wings were supported by elongated forelimbs. Later on, feathered wings became a standard feature of avian dinosaurs.
Additionally, there were gizzard stones inside Ambopteryx’s body to help with crushing food. The scientists also found bone fragments. The teeth of the winged dinosaur indicated that it was omnivorous.
Only one other example of a similar dinosaur with bat-like wings has been discovered before. In 2015, Chinese researchers unearthed the remains of a specimen they later named “Yi qi.”
After the second bat-winged dinosaur was identified, it proved that Yi qi was not just one miraculous occurrence and that there was more than one evolutionary path that gave rise to airborne dinosaurs.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
“I was frozen when I realized that a second membranous winged dinosaur was in front of my eyes,” said Min Wang, a paleontologist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
However, it is unclear what the small dinosaurs were doing with their wings. According to Wang, it did not seem likely that Ambopteryx and Yi were capable of flapping their wings to fly through the air.
Instead, they may have glided from tree to tree in search of food and shelter, much like the modern flying squirrel.
Studying the brain anatomies of airborne dinosaurs can help determine functions that were related to flying, but the specimens have been flattened over time, making this kind of analysis impossible.
No other dinosaurs like Ambopteryx and Yi have been found in the later Cretaceous period, a time when birds were thriving and pterosaurs dominated the skies. This must mean the two small dinosaur species did not make it through evolution.
The winged species add to the ongoing debate about how dinosaurs started developing wings and using them to fly. Perhaps they will serve as a key piece of the puzzle in solving the mysteries of dinosaur flight.
The details of the study were published in the journal Nature.
More About:News
Read This Next
