Bat-winged dinosaur discovered in China

FoxNews.com/science ^ | May 13, 2019 | Walt Bonner | Fox News

[ETL]

Dubbed Ambopteryx longibrachium, the blue jay-sized theropod lived 163 million years ago during the Jurassic period.

Its wings were made of a soft membrane attached to long arm bones which, when spread, resembled those of a bat. ..."

The researchers first thought it was a bird when they saw it in the rock, but after they dug it out, it became clear that Ambopteryx was a dinosaur.

The researchers aren’t sure exactly how the dinosaur, which also had feathers, looked as it took flight.

It couldn’t flap its wings, so it’s believed the creatures would simply glide.

According to the study, the discovery shows that dinosaurs took a few turns on their evolutionary journey into birds.

Flying dinosaurs usually had their feathered wings attached to long palm bones as opposed to membranous wings attached to arm bones.

Eventually feathered, palm bone-attached wings won out, which gave rise to the modern-day bird.

Ambopteryx also isn’t the first dinosaur of its kind discovered.

“The first bat-winged dinosaur, Yi qi, was described in 2015,” Dr. Steve Brusatte, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Geosciences and author of "The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World," told Fox News.

“It was a hugely unexpected find, and it was very provocative.

But it was only a partial skeleton, and there was still some uncertainty about the size and shape of its skin flap, and whether it could be used as an airfoil.”

[dfwgator]

[Osage Orange]

Did they name it Pelosi?

[ETL]

[Nuc 1.1]

We’re gonna need a bigger bug wacker.

[ETL]

BTW: That 2nd T-rex chase scene was just some guy in a rented costume. Looked real though.

[dfwgator]

Seemed legit to me.

[rjsimmon]

You mean Rodan!!

Nah, necks not long enough. A very young King Ghidhora.

[ETL]

Yes, with photoshop and other such image-manipulating tools it’s hard to know what’s real and what isn’t these days.

[fieldmarshaldj]

*ping*

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks fieldmarshaldj.

[Sans-Culotte]

[tet68]

The Nanzi Pelosiopterix spreads it’s webbed fingers
and hopes to sail into the White House.

[ETL]

Lol! Perfect.

[SERKIT]

Some say the company with batwings is also a dinosaur of a company.

[colorado tanker]

Holy flying dinosaur, Batman!

[SunkenCiv]

[wildbill]

That evolution chart missed a branch. It should run down to the famous modern day Bat Boy.

[colorado tanker]

LOL!

[Texan5]

Thanks-very interesting-if some Chinese farmer 7-8000 years ago turned up the fossilized remains of one of those, it is easy to see where the dragon legends started...

[SunkenCiv]

Finding exactly that graphic was serendipitous. :^)