The odd little reptiles of the Triassic forests: Longisquama

At one time it was thought to be a so-called “Proaves”, a hypothetical missing link between birds and reptiles that had still not been found by that time in paleontology. There was once a reconstruction of a flying or at least gliding-capable Longisquama by Haubold and Buffetaut in 1987. This showed the animal as having a pair of fan-like structures that it used to glide or fly through the air like a modern flying lizard.

For a while it was even supposed that these structures were actually plant remains that were fossilized alongside the dead animal. But a 2012 study by Michael Buchwitz and Sebastian Voigt from Freiberg University of Mining and Technology revealed that these odd appendages were not in fact plant remains. The study also noted that the appendages were superficially similar to a feather, with a vane down the middle and special attachment points deep inside the animal’s body  None of these structures are bony in nature and neither are they scales. Rather, they are made of skin.

Looking even deeper into the skin structures reveals that they were anchored to the spine by tiny knobs or anchorage points that were once thought to be similar to those of bird feathers or mammalian hair. The inner section of the appendages are also vaned, just like a bird’s feather. According to Buchwitz, Longisquama may have been experimenting with the feather gene or a variant of the feather gene even before the appearance of the dinosaurs.

At the same time, he also adds that the edges of the structures are too thick and not like proper avian and non-avian dinosaur feathers. In fact, the same team does not even classify Longisquama as a distant dinosaur relative. Rather, it is still regarded as an ambiguous sauropsid or reptile, still unclassified and still holding a great deal of mysteries.

Despite this, many artistic restorations of the animal exist and it has a minor place in culture, with appearances in popular books. The animal is reconstructed as a tree-climber with a pointy head, large eyes and long limbs. It thus had a standard reptilian form and was around 10 centimeters long and probably fed on insects that scurried among the trees and the undergrowth. By this reconstruction, the creature had a single row of structures along its back which it probably used as a display organ among members of the same species.

Vasika
Udurawane

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