Scientists Discover a New Species of Pterosaur

Scientists have discovered a new species of Pterosaur. Back in 2011, they found a jawbone, with the teeth still in, belonging to this Pterosaur. Later, they used modern scanning techniques, such as CT scans and chemical surface mapping. And they concluded that it could belong to a new type of species.

The research team, led by scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC, named this animal Eotephradactylus mcintireae, meaning “ash-winged dawn goddess”. It is a reference to volcanic ash that helped preserve its bones in an ancient riverbed.

Early pterosaurs are extremely difficult to find. The earliest known Pterosaurs date back to the late Triassic period, about 225 million years ago., There are very few fossil sites that preserve pterosaur remains from this time. Those Triassic flying reptiles took to the air using leathery wings made of skin stretched between their bodies and a super-long fourth finger. Their small size and hollow bones made flight easier, but also meant their skeletons were very often destroyed before fossilization could occur.

Although scientists have discovered many species of pterosaur, this one is different because it represents an early entry in pterosaur evolution. It is estimated to be 209 million years old and is now believed to be the earliest known pterosaur in America. The site of this amazing discovery is a fossil bed in the Petrified Forest, a national park in Arizona, US.

Studying this creature’s body parts gave some ideas about its diet. Doctor Klingman suggested that this dinosaur was feeding on prey with very hard body parts because of the worn-down teeth in the pterosaur’s jaw. This fossil bed might be where all animals went extinct in a massive extinction. It was like a dynamic ecosystem where older groups of animals, such as ancient armored crocodile relatives, lived alongside animals that we could recognize today, such as frogs and turtles.

Sources: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/articles/c0m8pjly992o

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/pterosaur-ash-winged-dawn-goddess-discovery

https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/releases/smithsonian-led-team-discovers-north-americas-oldest-known-pterosaur