A NEW TRIASSIC GLIDING REPTILE FROM THE DANVILLE BASIN

Excellent exposures of the Carnian Cow Branch Formation occur at the Virginia Solite Quarry in the Danville Basin. This locality is particularly notable for numerous specimens of exquisitely preserved insects, but vertebrate and plant fossils are also abundant. A partial skeleton of a most unusual new form of gliding reptile has recently been recovered from the site. Although not yet prepared, the specimen clearly shows elongated thoracic ribs that presumably supported a gliding membrane. In this respect it is very reminiscent of Icarosaurus, Kuehneosaurus and Coelurosauravus. The sole specimen of Icarosaurus comes from similar age sediments in the Lockatong Formation of the Newark Basin, while the closely related Kuehneosaurus originates from the Late Triassic fissure deposits of England and Wales. Unlike Icarosaurus and Kuehneosaurus the new form has an elongate neck. It also lacks the elongated transverse processes on the thoracic vertebrae, and consequently the thoracic region is remarkably slender. A second rather poorly defined specimen that lacks the skull is complete posteriorly and might be referable to the same taxon.