New Pterosaur Species Found in Petrified Forest National Park

By Hunter Han

Recently, scientists in Washington D.C. have used micro-CT scans to find that a set of fossils uncovered in the Petrified Forest National Park, in Arizona, belonged to an entirely new species of pterosaurs.

These pterosaurs were dated to live in the Triassic period. The Triassic Period was 50.6 million years long, starting from 251.9 Mya, and ended in 201.3 Mya, when the Jurrassic period began.

The period started with the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, also called the Great Dying, and ended with another mass extinction. Permian-Triassic mass extinction was devastating and almost brought life to an end – 90% of all life was wiped out, taking a whole 10 million years to recover from. The first 5 million years after the extinction was with brutal, relentless heat, hot enough to be lethal.

due to the dinosaurs, and was the seventh period of the Phanerozoic Eon. Pangea, the famous supercontinent, began to break apart in the late Triassic.

A common misconception is that pterosaurs are dinosaurs. That’s not true, like believing birds are lizards. Pterosaurs are actually flying reptiles, but dinosaurs were literally lizards, and although they are both reptiles, they aren’t the same.

The first evidence, a jawbone fossil including the teeth, was found in 2011, by a volunteer in Smithsonian’s FossiLab, Suzanne McIntire, who retired in 2024. Only recently have scientists discovered that it belonged to a new species. This species was dated to have entered the world around 200 million years ago (200 Mya).

The fossil, preserved in volcanic ash, was found in a desert landscape that used to be a prehistoric riverbed, and we now know riverbeds can hold crucial hints about conditions in certain time periods and areas. Dated to be roughly 209 Mya, the new pterosaur species were believed to be the earliest pterosaur fossil in North America. This pterosaur sets a record for when pterosaurs entered North America.

In the jawbone found, the teeth were worn at the tips, suggesting they could have been damaged by the fish the pterosaurs ate. Dr. Ben Kligman, a paleontologist, guessed that this was the result of eating the ancestors of fish, that could have been living in the river. They had tough, hard scales comparable to fish-armor, and that could have grinded down the pterosaur’s teeth.

The species was named Eotephradactylus mcintireae, meaning “ash-winged dawn goddess,” due to the fact that its fossil was preserved in volcanic ash. It was named by scientists at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, in Washington D.C..

The fossil was not found alone. It was found in a fossil bed, alongside other fossils, depicting an entire ecosystem. This showed what other animals that the pterosaur might have lived with. It is not only important to study an animal, the animals and plants and even non-living things can be just as useful.

The pterosaur species, dated to live around 209 Mya, is speculated to be the earliest pterosaur species in North America, according to BBC News. The newly found fossil of the pterosaur in the Petrified Forest National Park is like another puzzle piece found to add to the incomplete puzzle of prehistoric life.

Resources :

“Scientists discover new species of pterosaur,” BBC News, 8 July 2025 https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/articles/c0m8pjly992o

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