Sharovipteryx

Sharovipteryx was a small gliding reptile from the Middle Triassic of Central Asia. Its distinctive flight membranes were supported mainly by its elongated hindlimbs.

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Gliding flight: A form of aerial locomotion in which an animal descends through air without powered flapping. Sharovipteryx is interpreted as a glider rather than a powered flyer.
Reptile: A vertebrate in the sauropsid lineage, including living turtles, lizards, snakes, crocodilians, and birds. Sharovipteryx belongs to the broad reptilian branch of vertebrate evolution.
Alexander Sharov: A Soviet paleontologist who studied and named numerous Permian and Triassic fossils. He described the fossil that became the basis for Sharovipteryx.
Paleontological uncertainty: The limits on reconstructing ancient organisms from incomplete or ambiguous fossil evidence. A rare fossil preserves too little to settle every anatomical interpretation.
Flight membrane: A sheet of skin or other tissue that generates aerodynamic force when stretched across an animal's body or limbs. Its membrane was supported chiefly by the hindlimbs, unlike familiar wing arrangements.
Diapsid: A sauropsid defined ancestrally by two temporal openings in each side of the skull. Its classification places it among diapsid reptiles.
Kazakhstan: A country in Central Asia with extensive geological deposits and fossil localities. The type fossil was found in what is now Kazakhstan.
Phylogenetics: The study of evolutionary relationships among organisms. Its precise position among early reptiles remains difficult to establish.
Pterosaur: An extinct group of flying reptiles whose wings were supported by an elongated fourth finger. Pterosaurs provide a contrasting limb-supported design for reptilian flight.
Middle Triassic: The geological epoch spanning roughly 247 to 237 million years ago. This interval dates the animal to an early phase of reptile diversification.