>>Though Ambopteryx longibrachium was likely a glider, the fossil is helping scientists discover how dinosaurs first took to the skies

About 160 million years ago, in the depths of the Jurassic, feathered dinosaurs started to take to the air. Clawed arms that had evolved to snatch and catch began to take on a new aerodynamic role, and feather-coated limbs began flapping as the earliest avian dinosaurs overcame gravity to leave the surface of the Earth behind. But not all fluffy saurians launched into the air the same way. An unexpected discovery from China reveals an enigmatic family of dinosaurs with bat-like wings.<<

>>The skeletal details of these dinosaurs will no doubt play into the ongoing debate about how some dinosaurs, including the first birds, started to flap and fly. Wang and colleagues call the two little dinos an “experiment” in the origins of flight. Ultimately, however, it didn’t take off. No dinosaurs like Yi or Ambopteryx have been found from the later Cretaceous period, when birds proliferated and pterosaurs of all sizes still soared through the skies. Yi and Ambopteryx represent another way dinosaurs took to the air, perhaps gliding from tree to tree to find food and shelter, but ultimately they were destined for the ground, preserved for 160 million years in the rocks of modern-day China for paleontologists to find and puzzle over while trying to piece together the mysteries of dinosaur flight.<<

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/newly-discovered-bat-dinosaur-reveals-intricacies-prehistoric-flight-180972128

PermeateFree said:

>>Though Ambopteryx longibrachium was likely a glider, the fossil is helping scientists discover how dinosaurs first took to the skies

About 160 million years ago, in the depths of the Jurassic, feathered dinosaurs started to take to the air. Clawed arms that had evolved to snatch and catch began to take on a new aerodynamic role, and feather-coated limbs began flapping as the earliest avian dinosaurs overcame gravity to leave the surface of the Earth behind. But not all fluffy saurians launched into the air the same way. An unexpected discovery from China reveals an enigmatic family of dinosaurs with bat-like wings.<<

>>The skeletal details of these dinosaurs will no doubt play into the ongoing debate about how some dinosaurs, including the first birds, started to flap and fly. Wang and colleagues call the two little dinos an “experiment” in the origins of flight. Ultimately, however, it didn’t take off. No dinosaurs like Yi or Ambopteryx have been found from the later Cretaceous period, when birds proliferated and pterosaurs of all sizes still soared through the skies. Yi and Ambopteryx represent another way dinosaurs took to the air, perhaps gliding from tree to tree to find food and shelter, but ultimately they were destined for the ground, preserved for 160 million years in the rocks of modern-day China for paleontologists to find and puzzle over while trying to piece together the mysteries of dinosaur flight.<<

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/newly-discovered-bat-dinosaur-reveals-intricacies-prehistoric-flight-180972128

Always informative.

The wrist occurs at the junction of four cracks, and it’s difficult to see what comes after that in this image.

Seems as though flight arose via separate means among different groups of dinosaurs, but logically only one such group was the ancestor of modern birds

dv said:

Seems as though flight arose via separate means among different groups of dinosaurs, but logically only one such group was the ancestor of modern birds

It does say that the bat-like method did not evolve further.

PermeateFree said:

>>Though Ambopteryx longibrachium was likely a glider, the fossil is helping scientists discover how dinosaurs first took to the skies

About 160 million years ago, in the depths of the Jurassic, feathered dinosaurs started to take to the air. Clawed arms that had evolved to snatch and catch began to take on a new aerodynamic role, and feather-coated limbs began flapping as the earliest avian dinosaurs overcame gravity to leave the surface of the Earth behind. But not all fluffy saurians launched into the air the same way. An unexpected discovery from China reveals an enigmatic family of dinosaurs with bat-like wings.<<

>>The skeletal details of these dinosaurs will no doubt play into the ongoing debate about how some dinosaurs, including the first birds, started to flap and fly. Wang and colleagues call the two little dinos an “experiment” in the origins of flight. Ultimately, however, it didn’t take off. No dinosaurs like Yi or Ambopteryx have been found from the later Cretaceous period, when birds proliferated and pterosaurs of all sizes still soared through the skies. Yi and Ambopteryx represent another way dinosaurs took to the air, perhaps gliding from tree to tree to find food and shelter, but ultimately they were destined for the ground, preserved for 160 million years in the rocks of modern-day China for paleontologists to find and puzzle over while trying to piece together the mysteries of dinosaur flight.<<

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/newly-discovered-bat-dinosaur-reveals-intricacies-prehistoric-flight-180972128

What’s its closest relative? Checks wikipedia.

“Ambopteryx (meaning “both wing”) is a genus of scansoriopterygid dinosaur from the Oxfordian stage of the Late Jurassic of China. It is the second dinosaur to be found with both feathers and bat-like membranous wings. Yi qi, the first such dinosaur, was described in 2015 and is the sister taxon to Ambopteryx. The holotype specimen is thought to be a sub-adult or adult. The specimen is estimated to have had a body length of 32 centimetres (13 in) and a weight of 306 grams (0.675 lb). The genus includes one species, Ambopteryx longibrachium.”

Here we go, these are its closest relatives.

Sizes of Yi qi (green), Epidexipteryx hui (orange), and Scansoriopteryx heilmanni (red) compared with a human.

I’ve seen this diagram before.