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Coelurosauravus
Tomorrow's issue of the journal _Science_, published by the AAAS, contains
a report on _Coelurosauravus_, a Triassic
amniote that had wings supported by new bones formed in the skin, rather than
by modifications of existing bones.
Hans-Dieter Sues (Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto), Eberhard Frey, and Wolfgang
Munk (both State Museum of
Natural History, Karlsruhe, Germany) conclude that "bundles of bony rods formed
in the skin and opened like
an old Japanese fan, radiating from the shoulder area." When spread, the
bundles formed two curved wings, allowing the
animal to be carried "tens of meters." For a brief summary, see "How Reptiles
Took Wing" at
http://www.sciencenow.org/html/970306a.htm
-=Tuck=-