New evidence was found from a fossil of a small disnosaur that was uncovered from China suggesting that this ancient creature has the ability to fly short distances using wing membranes similar to modern bats.

This 160 million year old dinosaur is apparenlty the size of a pigeon and has been dubbed as "Yi Qi" which means "strange wing". Researchers have identified long bones that resemble sticks that extend from the wrists that could have supported soft, fleshy membranes, stretched out like skin.

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Researchers report that this marks the first time that this type of bone structure has been observed on a dinosaur fossil.

According to Corwin Sullivan who is a paleontologist of China's Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, upon closer inspection, scientists didn't know what to make out of these rod-like bones.

Sullivan only realized these bat like wings when he was working on a different study about flying rodents and gliding vertebrates, as he found a correlation between flying squirrels possessing a similar structure of the wrist cartilage that connects to wing like membranes.

Theory of these bat like wings are supported upon the discovery of membrane remanants that are attached to the long rod bones along with the shorter forelimbs.

However, study leader Xing Xu still says it is difficult to determine how much of the area the wing membranes covered.

Xu also adds that the creature is not really a great flyer, as it can only perform short glides or futile flapping flights. He describes this dinosaur to be a failed experiement of sorts when it comes to flying bird ancestors and it is still unknown why this creature failed in flying.

This dinosaur is now classified under the dinosaur family called Scansoriopterygidae where only three members exist and are some of the world's smallest. Tiny Yi Qi is estimated to weigh less than a pound, where its skull measures only one and a half inch long.

Yi Qi existed during the Jurassic period where it can be considered as a precursor to the earliest bird like dinosaurs and modern birds however, modern birds only possessed full feathered wings where they began to evolve.

This study is published in the journal Nature.

Tagsdinosaur bat wings, yi qi dinosaur china, dinosaur bat wings china, Dinosaurs, flying dinosaurs