Back in 2015, paleontologist Xing Xu discovered a bat-like furry dinosaur. It was unlike any dinosaur ever found featuring a coating of fuzz and wings like those of bats, and it was named Yi qi.
A second dinosaur of its type
Now, a second dinosaur of this type has been discovered. Chinese Academy of Sciences paleontologist Min Wang and colleagues found another bat-like dinosaur related to Yi qi that they called Ambopteryx.
"The wings of birds and their closest theropod relatives share a uniform fundamental architecture, with pinnate flight feathers as the key component. Here we report a new scansoriopterygid theropod, Yi qigen. et sp. nov., based on a new specimen from the Middle–Upper Jurassic period Tiaojishan Formation of Hebei Province, China," reads the study.
Ambopteryx takes the shape of a delicately preserved skeleton with a bit of fossilized fuzz. The fossil includes gut contents found inside the body cavity.
Scansoriopterygids
All in all, it looks similar to Yi qi as both are relatives within a family of dinosaurs called scansoriopterygids, a group of dinosaurs previously unknown to paleontologists. However, Ambopteryx differs somewhat from Yi qi.
It has a longer forelimb than hindlimb. It also features a fused vertebrae at the end of the tail.
The experts are not sure what the dinosaurs were doing with their wings as they were unlikely to be able to fly with them. Instead, they presume they used them for gliding.
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