Brazilian discovers new pterosaurs

A Brazilian scientist has identified three new species of pterosaurs - a group of rare prehistoric flying reptiles - revealing that these animals may be older than previously thought.

One of the world's leading pterosaur specialists, Alexander Kellner, a researcher at the National Museum (UFRJ), demonstrated that one of the existing genera, the Eudimorphodon, corresponded to three distinct genera and species.

According to him, this means that the pterosaurs were quite diversified 220 million years ago, much earlier than previously thought, according to a study published in the Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.

"We imagined that there were few groups of pterosaurs in the Triassic, but we demonstrated that the diversification of these animals was already underway at that time. Therefore, the origin of the pterosaurs is older than it had been established. Certainly at least 10 million years. "

To make the discovery, Kellner studied the ontogenetic characteristics - morphological variations between younger and older individuals - of fossils found in different regions of the world. Teeth characteristics were fundamental for the classification review.

Analysis showed that the fossil of an alleged Eudimorphodon found in Greenland was a very different animal, which was named Arcticodactylus cromptonellus. "It was a very primitive animal and quite strange: small, with short wings to the legs, " said Kellner.

Another fossil, found in Austria, was named Austriadraco dallavecchiai. "It had an opening in the jaw that had never been documented in pterosaurs, an indication that these animals may be closer to dinosaurs than to lizards."

A fossil discovered in Italy was called Bergamodactylus wildi. "It's the most complex: a small animal with big pointed teeth and wide eyes." The information is from the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo.

By Fábio de Castro - Sao Paulo

Via InSummary.