The gliding wings, or patagia, of the flurrit, although not allowing it to fly as a pterosaur's wings would, enable the flurrit to glide for great distances between the trees. Its hollow bones help to keep down the body weight. It can control its gliding flight path by altering the position of its arms and by swinging its long tail. When hunting or feeding below, the flurrit folds its patagia away.
The Flurrit, Labisaurus alatus, is a spotted, gliding arbrosaur from the tropical rainforests of Malesia, in The New Dinosaurs: An Alternative Evolution.
As in all other tropical forest areas the arboreal animals of the Indomalayan ecozone have evolved into a vast variety of strange forms. Many of these have developed from the arbrosaurs of the other realms. The tropical forests here support an extensive range of plants, and so there are many different kinds of insects and plant-living creatures found in the forest. They in turn become prey for a wide variety of carnivorous (such as insectivorous) animals.
One insectivorous animal that is found only in the forests of the Malesian islands is the gliding arbrosaur known as the flurrit. Most arbrosaurs are able to leap great distances from branch to branch and from tree to tree, in order to look for more prey. The flurrit evolved its gliding habit from these beginnings. Flaps of skin, or patagia, between the forelimbs and the body, developed and became aerodynamic structures. These do not allow the animal literally to fly but they enable it to glide from one tree to another. The flurrit's glide path has an angle of descent of about 45 degrees which can be controlled to some extent by the positions of the arms. When not in use the p
The flurrit is very small, its body and head being about 30 centimeters (1 foot) long. The underside of the wings has a very bright pattern, invisible when the wings are folded, and this is used for display and intimidation.
atagia fold away against the animal's sides and do not interfere with its hunting. Like the other arbrosaurs, it feeds mainly on insects which it catches by winkling them out of their tree burrows with its long fingers. Different species of flurrit are found on other islands. They are distinguished from one another by their markings.
The nervous system of the flurrit is highly developed in order to coordinate the movements of its flight and keep it under control.