#flying lizard

Lined Flying Dragon (Draco lineatus), family Agamidae, Sulawesi, Indonesia

well, I don't know if you could make them fully powered-flight, since draco lizard "wings" are essentially just a built in glide suit, much lie sugargliders and flying squirrels. they don't flap their wings, they just stick em out and maybe grab the front part to steer themselves.

the struts that make the shape of their wings are basically rib extensions, so I do think you can design a humanoid that way! anything with a ribcage can be redesigned to have a really weird highly specialized ribcage. reptiles are just extra weird about their ribs.

(image description: sketches of a draco lizard and a humanoid figure with similar wings. the wings are wide flaps of membrane extending off the torso. end description.)

if you want powered flight with a big membrane off the ribs, I think it will have to connect to the arms in a way that allows for actual flapping, which is a type of motion that requires a lot more energy than just gliding and turning. the more bones you put in the wings, the more joints have to be involved in the flapping motion, which means more muscle attachments and therefore more energy, especially if you want them to flap fast.

but if you kinda space the rib-struts out and lengthen the torso, you might be able to make it work like those ribbon shaped sea slugs, with a ripple effect in the flapping. it won't be as efficient or aerobatic as other types of wings, but it might be enough to at least create lift so they can fly a good distance and not just glide along.

Green-winged Flying Lizards (𝐷𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑜 𝑐𝑦𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑢𝑠), males displaying to each other, family Agamidae, Philippines