Animals which parachute, glide, or fly (living)[edit]

Invertebrates[edit]
Arthropods[edit]
A bee in flight.
Insects (flight). The first of all animals to evolve flight, insects are also th
e only invertebrates that have evolved flight. The species are too numerous to l
ist here. Insect flight is an active research field.
Gliding bristletails (gliding). Directed aerial gliding descent is found in some
tropical arboreal bristletails, an ancestrally wingless sister taxa to the wing
ed insects. The bristletails median caudal filament is important for the glide r
atio and gliding control [7]
Gliding ants (gliding). The flightless workers of these insects have secondarily
gained some capacity to move through the air. Gliding has evolved independently
in a number of arboreal ant species from the groups Cephalotini, Pseudomyrmecin
ae, and Formicinae (mostly Camponotus). All arboreal dolichoderines and non-ceph
alotine myrmicines except Daceton armigerum do not glide. Living in the rainfore
st canopy like many other gliders, gliding ants use their gliding to return to t
he trunk of the tree they live on should they fall or be knocked off a branch. G
liding was first discovered for Cephalotes atreus in the Peruvian rainforest. Ce
phalotes atreus can make 180 degree turns, and locate the trunk using visual cue
s, succeeding in landing 80% of the time.[8] Unique among gliding animals, Cepha
lotini and Pseudomyrmecinae ants glide abdomen first, the Forminicae however gli
de in the more conventional head first manner.[9] The following page has some go
od videos of gliding ants.[10]
Spiders (parachuting). The young of some species of spiders travel through the a
ir by using silk draglines to catch the wind, as may some smaller species of adu
lt spider, such the money spider family. This behavior is commonly known as "bal
looning". Ballooning spiders make up part of the aeroplankton.
Molluscs[edit]
Flying squid (gliding). Several oceanic squids, such as the Pacific flying squid
, will leap out of the water to escape predators, an adaptation similar to that
of flying fish.[11] Smaller squids will fly in shoals, and have been observed to
cover distances as long as 50 meters. Small fins towards the back of the mantle
do not produce much lift, but do help stabilize the motion of flight. They exit
the water by expelling water out of their funnel, indeed some squid have been o
bserved to continue jetting water while airborne providing thrust even after lea
ving the water. This may make flying squid the only animals with jet-propelled a
erial locomotion.[12] The neon flying squid has been observed to glide for dista
nces over 30 m, at speeds of up to 11.2 m/s [1].
Vertebrates[edit]
Fish[edit]
Band-winged flying fish. Note the enlarged pectoral fins.
Flying fish (gliding). There are over 50 species of flying fish belonging to the
family Exocoetidae. They are mostly marine fishes of small to medium size. The
largest flying fish can reach lengths of 45 cm, but most species measure less th
an 30 cm in length. They can be divided into two-winged varieties and four-winge
d varieties. Before the fish leaves the water it increases its speed to around 3
0 body lengths per second and as it breaks the surface and is freed from the dra
g of the water it can be traveling at around 60 km/h.[13] The glides are usually
up to 30 50 metres in length, but some have been observed soaring for hundreds of
metres using the updraft on the leading edges of waves. The fish can also make
a series of glides, each time dipping the tail into the water to produce forward
thrust. The longest recorded series of glides, with the fish only periodically
dipping its tail in the water, was for 45 seconds (Video here [14]). It has been
suggested that the genus Exocoetus is on an evolutionary borderline between fli
ght and gliding. It flaps its enlarged pectoral fins when airborne, but still se
ems only to glide, as there is no hint of a power stroke.[15] It has been found
that some flying fish can glide as effectively as some flying birds.[16]

Halfbeaks (gliding). A group related to the Exocoetidae, one or two hemirhamphid

species possess enlarged pectoral fins and show true gliding flight rather than
simple leaps. Marshall (1965) reports that Euleptorhamphus viridis can cover 50
m in two separate hops.[17]
Freshwater butterflyfish (possibly gliding). Pantodon buchholzi has the ability
to jump and possibly glide a short distance. It can move through the air several
times the length of its body. While it does this, the fish flaps its large pect
oral fins, giving it its common name.[18] However, it is debated whether the fre
shwater butterfly fish can truly glide, Saidel et al. (2004) argue that it canno
t.
Freshwater hatchetfish (possibly flying). There are 9 species of freshwater hatc
hetfish split among 3 genera. Freshwater hatchetfish have an extremely large ste
rnal region that is fitted with a large amount of muscle that allows it to flap
its pectoral fins. They can move in a straight line over a few metres to escape
predators[citation needed].
Amphibians[edit]
Rhacophoridae flying frogs (gliding). Gliding has evolved independently in two f
amilies of tree frogs, the Old World Rhacophoridae and the New World Hylidae. Wi
thin each lineage there are a range of gliding abilities from non-gliding, to pa
rachuting, to full gliding. A number of the Rhacophoridae, such as Wallace's Fly
ing Frog (Rhacophorus nigropalmatus), have adaptation for gliding, the main feat
ure being enlarged toe membranes. For example, the Malayan flying frog glides us
ing the membranes between the toes of its limbs, and small membranes located at
the heel, the base of the leg, and the forearm. Some of the frogs are quite acco
mplished gliders, for example, the Chinese gliding frog Polypedates dennysi can
maneuver in the air, making two kinds of turn, either rolling into the turn (a b
anked turn) or yawing into the turn (a crabbed turn).[19][20]
Hylidae flying frogs (gliding). The other frog family that contains gliders.[21]