The flying lizard who used his ribs as wings

A lizard living at the time of the dinosaurs took to the air by gliding with its ribs, say scientists.

The creature, named Xianglong zhaoi after its discovery in China, had elongated ribs which supported the wing-like membrane it used for flying.

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Most modern gliding animals, such as "flying" frogs and squirrels, have a membrane spread between their toes or their body and legs.

Only the gliding "dragon lizards" of south-east Asia have a similar ribbed membrane arrangement.

A fossilised six-inch skeleton of Xianglong, together with skin imprints discovered in the Liaoning Province of northeast China is being hailed as the only known fossilised evidence of the creature.

The creature lived in the Early Cretaceous period, which was more than 127million years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Its most striking feature was the eight elongated ribs that helped spread the lizard's wing-like membrane.

When fully open, the membrane would have been about three times as wide as it was long.

The find was described by scientists led by Dr Xing Xu, from the Chinese-Academy of Sciences in Beijing.

They wrote in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: "The discovery of Xianglong ... provides unambiguous and the only known fossil evidence so far documenting the gliding behaviour in the squamate [lizard] evolution."