Gliding mechanism in the late permian reptile Coelurosauravus

Science

Volumn 275, Issue 5305, 1997, Pages 1450-1452

  Frey, Eberhard ^a   Sues, Hans Dieter ^b,c   Munk, Wolfgang ^a  

^a Staatliches Mus Naturkunde K   (Germany)

^b DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL HISTORY   (Canada)

^c UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; FOSSIL; LOCOMOTION; NONHUMAN; PRIORITY JOURNAL; REPTILE;

COELUROSAURAVUS JAEKELI; FLYING REPTILE; GLIDING MECHANISM; PERMIAN;

GERMANY;

EID: 0030621206     PISSN: 00368075     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1126/science.275.5305.1450     Document Type: Article

References (16)

1. J. M. V. Rayner, in Vertebrate Locomotion, M. H. Day, Ed. (Academic Press, London, 1981), pp. 137-172.
2. U. M. Norberg, Vertebrate Flight (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1990).
3. E. H. Colbert, Am. Mus. Novit. 2283, 1 (1967).
4. P. L. Robinson, Proc. Geol. Soc. London 1601, 137 (1962).
5. E. H. Colbert, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat Hist. 143, 85 (1970).
6. Coelurosauravus jaekeli (Weigelt, 1930) is now known from several skeletons from the Kupferschiefer of Germany [originally described as Palaeochamaeleo or Weigeltisaurus (8, 10)] and the correlative Marl Slate of England (8, 9). The very closely related, possibly synonymous, C. elivensis [including Daedalosaurus madagascariensis (8, 11)] is represented by specimens from the Lower Sakamena Formation of Madagascar. The stratigraphic age of the Kupferschiefer and Lower Sakamena Formation is now considered latest Permian (Tatarian) [H.-D. Sues and W. Munk, Palaeontol. Z. 70, 213 (1996)].
7. The new skeleton was collected from the Kupferschiefer of Ellrich, Thuringia (Germany), and is now housed in the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe (SMNK 2882 PAL). It is almost complete and mostly articulated. The vertebral column is coiled, presumably due to postmortem desiccation.
8. S. E. Evans, Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 76, 97 (1982); S. E. Evans and H. Haubold, ibid. 90, 275 (1987).
9. S. E. Evans, Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 76, 97 (1982); S. E. Evans and H. Haubold, ibid. 90, 275 (1987).
10. T. H. Pettigrew, Nature 281, 297 (1979).
11. J. Weigelt, Nova Acta Leopold. 6, 625 (1930).
12. R. L. Carroll, Palaeont. Afr. 21, 143 (1978).
13. G. Schaumberg, Palaeontol. Z. 60, 319 (1986). Schaumberg first questioned the interpretation of the rods as rib elements proposed by Evans (8), but, with the fossils of C. jaekeli known at that time, he could not establish the arrangement and true nature of the rods.
14. The Bauhaus specimen is housed in the private collection of W. Simon, Cornberg (Germany), and the Bodental skeleton in the collection of P. Bürger, Bad Hersfeld (Germany). High-fidelity casts of these fossils have been deposited in the collections of the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe and the Royal Ontario Museum.
15. A. P. Russell, Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 65, 233 (1979).
16. We thank the Royal Ontario Museum Foundation and Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe for financial support, the authorities of the Sunderland Museum for permission to examine the Eppleton specimen, and P. Bürger and W. Simon for access to material in their private collections. B. Herkner, C. McGowan, and an anonymous reviewer provided constructive comments on a draft of the manuscript. U. Greiner and B. Boyle assisted with photography.