After a period of excavation, Scotland announced the discovery of the largest fossil of the pterosaur to date. This 170-million-year-old pterosaur, found at on the Isle of Skye on the northwest coast of Scotland, with a wingspan of about 2.5 meters, is the largest known winged reptile from the Jurassic period.
Skypterosaurs had an aerodynamic head with interlaced upper and lower teeth, like the bristles on the leaves of Venus flytrap . The new species provides evidence that pterosaurs started getting bigger in prehistoric times, much earlier than previously thought. The newly named 170-million-year-old pterosaur was about the size of a modern albatross, said Natalia Jagielska of the University of Edinburgh, UK.
Pterosaurs are small flying reptiles that evolved during the Triassic period 230 million years ago. But by the Cretaceous period - when popular terrestrial dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops roamed around - pterosaurs like Aeolus had grown to the size of modern jet fighters Size, wingspan up to 12 meters wide. However, correlative information is lacking in Triassic and the Middle Jurassic about 174 to 164 million years ago before the Cretaceous. Since then, few pterosaur fossils have survived worldwide—probably because the climatic conditions were unsuitable for their preservation. Scientists generally believe that pterosaurs were still small at this time, with a wingspan of no more than 1.8 meters, and only became larger during the late Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. And new fossil excavations have changed that perception.
Currently, Amelia Penny of the University of St Andrews ( UK ) and her colleagues are still on the Isle of Skye on the northwest coast of Scotland ( Further excavations were made on the limestone formations on the Isle of Skye.The researchers cut the limestone with a diamond-encrusted saw to extract the fossils between the tides.
Through close visual inspection, coupled with x-rays computed microtomography, they discovered a remarkably well-preserved skeleton, embedded in limestone slabs "still and in real life Same". Experts determined that the pterosaur was a growing baby dragon, the bones of the head and back had not yet fused, and the skeletal microstructure was growing rapidly.
Despite its youth, its limb bones and skull were longer, so it is estimated that its total wingspan was larger than any known Jurassic pterosaur. The largest member of this species is about 3.8 meters long from tip to tip. This animal has sharp upper and lower teeth that interdigitate outside the mouth, making it ideal for fishing. Like other pterosaurs, it had a short neck and a long tail. But unlike many pterosaurs, this one doesn't appear to have a crest of any kind - although the top of its skull was damaged from exposure to tidal water, which leaves room for speculation.
The team named the species Dearc sgiathanach (pronounced jark ski-an-ach), in reference to a winged species from the Isle of Skye Reptile, Isle of Skye is called an t-Eilean Sgitheanach in Scottish Gaelic .
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