''Xianshou'' is a genus of

gliding Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word ''soaring'' is al ...

Qing-Jin Meng; David M. Grossnickle; Di Liu; Yu-Guang Zhang; April I. Neander; Qiang Ji; Zhe-Xi Luo (2017). "New gliding mammaliaforms from the Jurassic". Nature. in press. .

haramiyida Haramiyida ("thief" from Arabic الحرامية (al ḥarāmiyah), "thief, bandit") is a possibly polyphyletic order of mammaliaform cynodonts or mammals of controversial taxonomic affinites. Their teeth, which are by far the most common remains ...

n synapsid known from the Oxfordian stage of the Jurassic period, approximately 160 million years ago. Two species, ''X. linglong'' and ''X. songae,'' are known from fossils of the Tiaojishan Formation in the

Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...

province of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Etymology

The genus name is derived from Chinese ''xiān'' (仙), meaning "immortal" or "celestial being", and ''shòu'' (獸), meaning "creature" or "beast". The specific name ''linglong'' is derived from both the Chinese word for "exquisite" (玲瓏), and from the name of the town Linglongta, where the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

was discovered. ''X. songae'' is named for the collector of the specimen, Rufeng Song.

Description

''X. linglong ''is believed to have weighed 83 grams (2.9 oz) in life. It can be distinguished from ''X. songae'' and '' Shenshou'' by the sharper cusps and ridges of its upper molars, and by larger size. ''X. songae'' is estimated to have weighed around 40 grams (1.4 oz) More recent study of ''Xianshou'' suggests that, like the closely related ''

Maiopatagium ''Maiopatagium'' ("greater patagium" from Latin maius, “greater, larger” + Modern Latin patagium, “ patagium”) is an extinct genus of gliding euharamiyids which existed in Asia during the Jurassic period. It possessed a patagium between ...

'' and ''

Vilevolodon ''Vilevolodon'' is an extinct, monotypic genus of volant, Arboreal locomotion, arboreal Euharamiyida, euharamiyids from the Oxfordian (stage), Oxfordian age of the Late Jurassic of China. The type species is ''Vilevolodon diplomylos''. The genus ...

'', it may have had a

patagia The patagium (plural: patagia) is a membranous Animal body, body part that assists an animal in obtaining lift (force), lift when gliding flight, gliding or flight. The structure is found in extant taxon, extant and extinct groups of flying and g ...

and the ability to glide. No patagium is preserved in ''Xianshou'' fossils, but the morphology of the limbs and pes is most similar to those of extant gliding mammals.

Phylogeny

The following phylogenetic analysis was recovered by the description of ''Xianshou''.

References

Euharamiyids Prehistoric cynodont genera Oxfordian life Late Jurassic synapsids of Asia Jurassic China Fossils of China Fossil taxa described in 2014 Taxa named by Shundong Bi Taxa named by Yuanqing Wang Taxa named by Jian Guan Taxa named by Xia Sheng Taxa named by Jin Meng {{paleo-therapsid-stub