''Maiopatagium'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of gliding

euharamiyids Euharamiyida also known as Eleutherodontida, is clade of early mammals or mammal-like cynodonts from the Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous of Eurasia and possibly North America. The group is sometimes considered a sister group to Multitubercula ...

which existed in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

during the

Jurassic period The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the second and m ...

. It possessed a

patagium The patagium (: patagia) is a membranous body part that assists an animal in obtaining lift when gliding or flying. The structure is found in extant and extinct groups of flying and gliding animals including bats, theropod dinosaurs (inclu ...

between its limbs and presumably had similar lifestyle to living

flying squirrels Flying squirrels (scientifically known as Pteromyini or Petauristini) are a tribe (biology), tribe of 50 species of squirrels in the family (biology), family Squirrel, Sciuridae. Despite their name, they are not in fact capable of full flight i ...

and colugos. The type species is ''Maiopatagium furculiferum'', which was described from the

Tiaojishan Formation The Tiaojishan Formation is a geological formation in Hebei and Liaoning, People's Republic of China, dating to the middle-late Jurassic period (Bathonian-Oxfordian (stage), Oxfordian stages). It is known for its Lagerstätte, exceptionally preser ...

by Zhe-Xi Luo in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

; it lived in what is now the Liaoning region of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

during the late Jurassic ( Oxfordian age). ''Maiopatagium'' and ''

Vilevolodon ''Vilevolodon'' is an extinct, monotypic genus of volant, arboreal euharamiyids from the Oxfordian age of the Late Jurassic of China. The type species is ''Vilevolodon diplomylos''. The genus name ''Vilevolodon'' references its gliding capabili ...

'', described concurrently, offer clues to the ways various synapsids have taken to the skies over evolutionary time scales. A second species, ''M. sibiricum'', was described from the

Bathonian In the geologic timescale the Bathonian is an age (geology), age and stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Middle Jurassic. It lasted from approximately 168.2 ±1.2 annum, Ma to around 165.3 ±1.1 Ma (million years ago). The Bathonian Age succeeds ...

aged

Itat Formation The Itat Formation (Russian: итатская свита) is a geologic formation in western Siberia. It was deposited in the Bajocian to Bathonian ages of the Middle Jurassic. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from ...

in western Siberia, Russia in 2019

References

Euharamiyida Bathonian life Callovian life Oxfordian life Middle Jurassic synapsids of Asia Late Jurassic synapsids of Asia Jurassic China Fossils of China Paleontology in Liaoning Fossil taxa described in 2017 Taxa named by Zhe-Xi Luo Taxa named by Qing-Jin Meng Taxa named by David M. Grossnickle Taxa named by Di Liu Taxa named by April I. Neander Taxa named by Yu-Guang Zhang Taxa named by Qiang Ji (paleontologist) {{Mesozoic-mammal-stub