Volant Fossil Vertebrates: Potential for Bioinspired Flight Technology
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Updated: Dec 18, 2025

Early Metamorphic Insertion Technology for Insect Flight Behavior Monitoring
Published on: July 12, 2014
Elizabeth Martin-Silverstone1, Michael B Habib2, David W E Hone3
1School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, UK.
Abstract:
Animal flight is ecologically important and has a long evolutionary history. It has evolved independently in many distantly related clades of animals. Powered flight has evolved only three times in vertebrates, making it evolutionarily rare. Major recent fossil discoveries have provided key data on fossil flying vertebrates and critical insights regarding the evolution and different arrangements of animal flight surfaces. Combined with new methodologies, these discoveries have paved the way for potentially expanding biomimetic and biologically inspired designs to incorporate lessons from fossil taxa. Here, we review the latest knowledge and literature regarding flight performance in fossil vertebrates. We then synthesise key elements to provide an overview of those cases where fossil flyers might provide new insights for applied sciences.
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