Sunday 3 September 2017

First winged mammals from the Jurassic period discovered


160-million-year-old fossils suggest a new model of life -- gliding -- for the forerunners of mammals, in an evolutionary parallel to modern mammal gliders

Date:  August 9, 2017
Source:  University of Chicago Medical Center

Summary:
Two 160-million-year-old mammal fossils discovered in China show that the forerunners of mammals in the Jurassic Period evolved to glide and live in trees. With long limbs, long hand and foot fingers, and wing-like membranes for tree-to-tree gliding, Maiopatagium furculiferum and Vilevolodon diplomylos are the oldest known gliders in the long history of early mammals.


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