Influence of posture during gliding flight in the flying lizard.

The agamid lizards of the genusare undoubtedly the most renown reptilian gliders, using their rib-supported patagial wings as lifting surfaces while airborne. Recent investigations into these reptiles highlighted the role of body posture during gliding, however, the aerodynamics of postural changes inremain unclear. Here, we examine the aerodynamics and gliding performances ofusing a numerical approach focusing on three postural changes: wing expansion, body camber, and limb positioning.

To glide or to swim? A reinvestigation of the enigmatic (Reptilia) from the Early Triassic of British Columbia, Canada.

was initially described as a member of the Weigeltisauridae, a clade of Late Permian gliding reptiles from Eurasia and Madagascar. However, the poor preservation of the holotype and only known specimen, from the lower Sulphur Mountain Formation at Ganoid Ridge (British Columbia, Canada), raised doubts about this assignment. Here, we redescribe and reassess its systematic position among diapsid reptiles.