ABSTRACT
Storch et al. (1996) provided an excellent summary of gliding in rodents, including four independently evolved lineages: (1) Eomyidae (ying squirrels, Late Eocene-Pliocene), including the Late Oligocene ying squirrel specimen described by Storch et al.); (2) Sciuridae (sciurids, Early OligoceneHolocene); (3) Anomaluridae (scaly-tailed ying squirrels, Late Eocene-Holocene); and (4) Gliridae (dormice, Early Oligocene-Holocene; see Carroll, 1988). The oldest goes back to the Oligocene, with gliding membranes (patagia) still preserved, as well as hair. Ducrocq et al. (1992) described a Late Eocene dermopteran (ying lemur) from Thailand. Bats are known well back into the Eocene. The earliest known
gliding mammal is Volaticotherium from the mid-Mesozoic of Inner Mongolia (Meng et al., 2006), with a skin outline of the patagium well preserved. Birds are known back into the Late Jurassic. Carroll (1978) described a gliding reptile, Daedalosaurus, from the Madagascar Upper Permian and compared it to Late Triassic gliding reptiles as well as to living Draco. Fraser et al. (2007) described an Upper Triassic gliding reptile from Virginia and reviewed the morphology of other gliding reptiles known from the fossil record. Evans (1987) reviewed the morphology of an Upper Permian gliding reptile.
