200 million year old jaw revealed as a new species

Scientists have discovered a new type of pterosaurus – a flying reptile that rises above dinosaurs more than 200 million years ago.

The jaw of the ancient reptile was discovered in Arizona in 2011, but modern scanning techniques have already revealed details showing that it belongs to a appearance new to science.

The research team, led by scientists at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, called the creature Eotepphradactylus mcintireae, which means “goddess with ash-wing”.

This is a reference to volcanic ash that helped preserve your bones in an ancient river bed.

Details of the discovery are Posted in the magazine Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesS

About 209 million years old, it is thought to be the worst pterosaur located in North America.

“The bones of triaxial pterosaurs are small, thin and often hollow, so they are destroyed before they are fossilized,” explained Dr. Cligman.

The site of this discovery is a fossil bed in a desert landscape on an ancient rock in the national park in the fossilized forests.

More than 200 million years ago, this place was a river bed and layers of sediments gradually caught and preserved bones, flakes and other evidence of life at the time.

The river passed through the central region of what was the supercontinent of Pangea, which was formed by all earth land.

The jaw of the pterosaurus is just one part of a collection of fossils found in the same place, including bones, teeth, fish flakes and even fossilized PUs (also known as Copralitis).

Dr. Cligman said: “Our ability to recognize pterosaver bones in (these ancient) river deposits suggests that there may be other similar terms of triaki rocks around the world, which can also preserve pterosaur bones.”

Studying the teeth of the pterosaurus also provided clues for what would eat the wing in the spindle size reptiles.

“They have an unusually high degree of wear on their advice,” explained Dr. Cligman. Assuming that this pterosaur feeds on something with hard parts of the body. ”

The most common prey, he told the BBC News, are primitive fish that would be covered with bony armor.

Scientists say the site of the discovery has retained a “momentary photo” of an ecosystem, where groups of animals that have now disappeared, including giant amphibians and ancient armored relatives from crocodile living along with animals that we could recognize today, including frogs and turtles.

This fossil bed, said Dr. Cligman, has retained evidence of an evolutionary “transition” 200 million years ago.

“We see groups that flourish later, living along with older animals that (not) pursue it along the Triassic.

“The fossil beds like these allow us to find that all these animals actually live together.”