Feathered fossil foxes feathersaurus followers as American scientists claim to have identified a feathered reptile older than the dinosaurs, casting doubt that dinosaurs are birds’ ancestors. The fossil, named Longisquama insignis, which means “long, flat marks”, is supposedly late Triassic or 220 million years old, which is 75 million years older than alleged feathered dinosaurs. It had been lying for decades, wrongly labelled, in a drawer at a Moscow museum. Originally found 1969 in Kyrgyzstan, the fossil was noticed by Oregon State University researchers at a touring exhibit of Russian fossils in Kansas during 1999.
Zoology professor John Ruben, states in Science, vol. 288, p.2202, June 23 2000 that no “formal” link between the ‘new fossil’ and birds had been established, but several similarities suggest Longisquama could be a bird ancestor. Though the 26cm long creature lacked the musculature for flying, “at the very least, (the fossils) prove that feathers did not evolve in dinosaurs”. … “We now question very strongly whether there were any feathered dinosaurs at all. What have been called feathered dinosaurs were probably flightless birds,” said Ruben. (See also Courier Mail Australia Saturday June 24, 2000 p.21
Editorial Comment: Longisquama also provides remarkable proof of the predictive power of Creation Researchers whose 1998 comment was that “feathered non flying dinosaurs” such as Caudyopteryx zoui and Protoarcheopteryx robusta were ancestors of flightless birds such as the emu. Good to see some evolutionists have managed to catch up. See Creation News Vol.12 No.3, 1998.