Sturgeon Posted April 30, 2015 Report Share Posted April 30, 2015 Recently, a scansoriopterygid dinosaur was discovered in China that had membranous bat-like wings. No, really. Yes, it really does look like a dragon (well, wyvern, maybe). Yes, the diversity of life is this awesome. Yes, this has proven that literally random chance will every time create something more interesting and amazing than the creators of Jurassic Park sequels can come up with.Meet Yi Qi: The only proper reaction: Donward 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donward Posted April 30, 2015 Report Share Posted April 30, 2015 I guess we need two more for John Snow and Tyrion Lannister to ride as well. Also, holy crap, that thing is the stuff of nightmares. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khand-e Posted April 30, 2015 Report Share Posted April 30, 2015 I don't know, doing my best but not really seeing a dragon in it. It's still really interesting regardless though. "Strange Wings" may be a rather understating name for it, it looks pretty strange all around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collimatrix Posted April 30, 2015 Report Share Posted April 30, 2015 There are so many things that are weird about this. At first I was really confused by the fourth bony wing support; theropod dinosaurs only have three fingers. They're saying it evolved a new bone there, which is really weird. Usually existing bones are co-opted rather than entirely new ones evolving. I guess pterosaurs did the same thing with the pteroid bone though. The other weird thing about this is that it's a bird, and a flying bird, but the lift-generating surfaces are clearly not homologous to those of other birds. How many times did flight evolve in birds? Three times? Four times? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sturgeon Posted April 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2015 You're not seeing a dragon in it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collimatrix Posted April 30, 2015 Report Share Posted April 30, 2015 Wait, wait, wait. It's a scansoriopterygid. I checked a cladegram. That means that the last common ancestor of living birds and this thing is more recent than the last common ancestor of microraptor gui and living birds. That potentially means that the ancestors of Yi Qi were flighted, became arboreal and flightless, and then re-evolved a completely different form of flight. Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. Belesarius and Xlucine 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khand-e Posted April 30, 2015 Report Share Posted April 30, 2015 That's a Wyvern, don't make me have to sperg out about mythological animals, you don't want me to sperg out about mythological animals. I think it's mostly the head that doesn't look like that of a Dragon, though maybe it's the fact I've only heard of very few myths of dragons that had fur, regardless, It's a really strange creature overall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khand-e Posted April 30, 2015 Report Share Posted April 30, 2015 Wait, wait, wait. It's a scansoriopterygid. I checked a cladegram. That means that the last common ancestor of living birds and this thing is more recent than the last common ancestor of microraptor gui and living birds. That potentially means that the ancestors of Yi Qi were flighted, became arboreal and flightless, and then re-evolved a completely different form of flight. Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. Maybe they should rename it from "Strange wings" to "Holy shit what the fuck is with this thing?" But... that might be a bit too long, and not as professional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collimatrix Posted April 30, 2015 Report Share Posted April 30, 2015 The related taxon epidexipteryx, skeletal reconstruction by Ville Sinkkonen: That extended finger in scansoriopterygids had previously been interpreted as an aye-aye like tree-hole-exploring-appendage. Watch it turn out that the entire group all sported bat-wings. Belesarius 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collimatrix Posted May 2, 2015 Report Share Posted May 2, 2015 John Conway's reconstruction: Sturgeon and Belesarius 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sturgeon Posted May 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2015 Fucking John Conway, mate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collimatrix Posted May 7, 2015 Report Share Posted May 7, 2015 Darren Naish has a good write-up. Those sharp-eyed of you will note that this strange creature is from Oxfordian. That means it's older than archaeopteryx. Bird evolution was so weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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