Posted: Sep 27, 2017 6:19 pm
Eh... I don't think you get the point I was making. I wasn't saying it was a pterosaur, or even LIKE a pterosaur. I get that it couldn't actually fly, and that's entirely beside the point. I guarantee you, pterosaurs did not come out of thin air, so to speak, nor did bats, unless you're a YEC. Gliding generally comes before flying, as the former is far easier. Here is a dinosaur that could glide using skin flaps, just as the ancestors of both bats and pterosaurs must have during their ancient developmental history. And this wasn't a marginal ability, either; it had a specialized bone structure JUST for spreading its membrane for gliding.
It doesn't have to be the "full suite" to be a case of convergent evolution. This thing wasn't a flier, but neither were pterosaur ancestors or bat ancestors, until they were. Yi hadn't reached the point of flight yet, but it was following the same line of adaption that could eventually end in flight, as it did in bats.
I just think that's interesting, seeing as other dinosaurs developed first gliding and then flight in a completely different manner (flight feathers).
It doesn't have to be the "full suite" to be a case of convergent evolution. This thing wasn't a flier, but neither were pterosaur ancestors or bat ancestors, until they were. Yi hadn't reached the point of flight yet, but it was following the same line of adaption that could eventually end in flight, as it did in bats.
I just think that's interesting, seeing as other dinosaurs developed first gliding and then flight in a completely different manner (flight feathers).