Winged reptile so small it could perch on your shoulder identified from AZ fossil
The new type of pterosaur, named Eotephradactylus mcintireae, was identified by a Smithsonian-led research team, according to a July 7 news release from the institution.
It's known as the 'ash-winged dawn goddess.'
The creature 'would have been small enough to comfortably perch on a person's shoulder,' per Smithsonian officials.
It also had 'a long jaw with several types of teeth for different purposes,' including curved fangs for grabbing prey and blade-like teeth for slicing it up, paleontologist Ben Kligman said in a July 8 email to McClatchy News.
He said the pterosaur likely feasted on 'primitive fish related to living gar.'
Researchers — including Kligman, a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History — documented the new species in a study published July 7 in the peer-reviewed journal PNAS, or Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
First occurrence
The pterosaur's jawbone with teeth came from a remote area in northeastern Arizona's Petrified Forest National Park, Smithsonian officials said.
The site also contained numerous other fossils from different creatures, including 'an ancient turtle with spike-like armor,' according to Smithsonian officials.
'These fossils, which date back to the late Triassic period around 209 million years ago, preserve a snapshot of a dynamic ecosystem where older groups of animals, including giant amphibians and armored crocodile relatives, lived alongside evolutionary upstarts like frogs, turtles and pterosaurs,' Smithsonian officials said.
Kligman noted in his email that 'the presence of the pterosaur Eotephradactylus living and interacting in a community alongside groups like frogs, lizard relatives, and turtles is the first occurrence of this community type in the fossil record.'
Those groups were found living together in later eras, he said, but not before a massive extinction event that killed about three-quarters of species on the planet about 201 million years ago.
That 'means that the assembly of modern vertebrate communities was not the direct result of the end-Triassic extinction, and had been taking place well before it,' he said.
Stands out
During Eotephradactylus mcintireae's time, the fossil site area 'was positioned in the middle of Pangaea and sat just above the equator,' according to Smithsonian officials, who noted that 'the semi-arid environment was crisscrossed by small river channels and likely prone to seasonal floods' that sent ash and sediment into the channels.
The creatures found in the site were likely buried in such a flood, Smithsonian officials said.
The site was discovered several years ago, and the pterosaur jaw fossil was eventually uncovered by Suzanne McIntire, a longtime volunteer in the Smithsonian's FossiLab, Smithsonian officials said. The new species was named partly for her.
The ash-winged dawn goddess is the oldest-known pterosaur in North America, according to Smithsonian officials.
Kligman said 'a big part of why (it) stands out is that it was found fossilized in sediments deposited in a river. Most early pterosaurs are found in oceanic sediments. We hope that our (study's) recognition of pterosaurs from new environments of the Pangaean continent will help future researchers in the search for more of these rare fossils.'
Kay Behrensmeyer from the Smithsonian and Robin Whatley from Columbia College Chicago were study co-leads. Other authors were Jahandar Ramezani, Adam D. Marsh, Tyler R. Lyson, Adam J. Fitch and William G. Parker.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Bizarre 12-sided object dating to Roman Empire baffles scientists: ‘A cosmic symbol'
There are many sides to this story. Scientists remain baffled over a mysterious 12-sided bronze object dating back to the Roman Empire — theorizing it could be anything from a candle holder to a 'cosmic symbol.' The first Roman dodecahedron was discovered in 1739 in the English Midlands. Since then,120 of the geometric enigmas have been unearthed from the former Northwestern Provinces of the Roman Empire, with scientists noting that all of the specimens date back to the late second and fourth centuries, Live Science reported. Classical archaeologist Michael Guggenberger, who has published several studies on the objects, described them in a 2000 study as a pentagonal dodecahedron, which is created when 12 pentagons form surfaces of the hollow object, intersecting at 20 different corners. Meanwhile, each pentagonal face has a hole of a varying size while each corner is studded with a ball, like an ancient model of a viral pathogen. The multifaceted anomalies range in size from a golf ball to the size of a grapefruit, as was the case with a dodecahedron that was exhumed in Norton Disney, Lincolnshire, during the summer of 2023, Smithsonian magazine reported. Richard Parker, secretary of the Norton Disney History and Archaeology Group, told the outlet that the metal artifact was in 'excellent condition — considering it's been buried for 1,700 years — and complete with no damage.' Despite the treasure trove of evidence, scientists remain no closer to pinpointing the purpose of the mysterious object. 'Nobody knows for certain how the Romans used them,' wrote Smithsonian in 2023. Interestingly, the objects were discovered in countries ranging from Austria to France and Luxembourg –but not Italy — leading Guggenberger to postulate that they could be traced back to the Celtic tribes of the Roman Empire. The dodecahedrons have been found everywhere from men's and women's graves to trash piles, further complicating the search for an explanation as to their function. As the baubles aren't depicted in ancient art, there is no historical record of their origin or use. So far, researchers have floated 50 different theories regarding their purposes, suggesting that they could be weapons, range finders, candlestick holders or even dice. However, many researchers believe that the objects' ornate design and their relatively pristine condition demonstrate that they were no run-of-the-mill implement. 'A huge amount of time, energy and skill was taken to create our dodecahedron, so it was not used for mundane purposes,' wrote the Norton Disney group. 'They are not of a standard size, so will not be measuring devices. They don't show signs of wear, so they are not a tool.' Guggenberger believed that the dodecahedron occupied a more symbolic role related to the theories of Greek philosophers such as Plato and Pythagoras. In Platonic-Pythagorean symbolism, four solid shapes corresponded with four elements — tetrahedrons with fire, octahedrons with air, icosahedrons with water, and hexahedrons with earth — while 'the dodecahedron served as an all-encompassing symbol representing the universe,' Guggenberger said. A breakthrough possibility emerged in 1966, when scientists discovered a dodecahedron next to a rod-shaped bone artifact in a woman's grave in Germany. That suggested the dodecahedron could have adorned it like a staff or symbolic scepter for use in Druidic rituals. Guggenberger theorized that, for now, the most likely interpretation of the dodecahedron is 'as a cosmic, all-encompassing symbol' with 'a function comparable to an amulet.'
Miami Herald
2 days ago
- Miami Herald
Sea creatures make ‘extremely rare' appearance off England. See ‘magical' photos
A pair of orcas recently made waves when they were spotted in an unusual location off the United Kingdom. The apex predators were seen off the Isles of Scilly — an archipelago southwest of Cornwall, England — in early July. Images taken by wildlife photographer Isaac Ogden show the creatures breaching the surface near the rocky coastline. 'Killer whales, killer views,' Ogden wrote in a July 10 Instagram post, which garnered hundreds of likes. He also noted the rarity of the encounter. 'Orcas have been seen a couple of times in recent years off mainland Cornwall but not off the Isles within the last 25 years or so,' Ogden told McClatchy News. The Kernow Weather Team, a local weather organization, described the sighting as 'extremely rare' and 'magical.' 'These intelligent, powerful creatures are truly a sight to behold and a reminder of how wild and wonderful our Cornish seas really are,' the organization said in a Facebook post. One of the animals was identified as Freyja, or C-002, an Iberian orca belonging to the Vega pod. Freyja is believed to be the first Iberian killer whale to have been seen in the waters off Cornwall, according to the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. 'She is a female and she is always seen with this other one, although we need to get further identification on the second whale, we think she may be C001,' Dolphin Zones' Sarah Matthews, told the BBC. 'They are quite an elusive pair that appears to pop up randomly in different places,' she said, noting the pair may be the last surviving members of their ecotype. Orcas are found throughout all of the world's oceans, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Globally, there are an estimated 50,000 individuals belonging to various distinct populations. The creatures face threats from vessel strikes, entanglements in fishing gear and food shortages.
New York Times
2 days ago
- New York Times
Snakes Use Smelly Musk to Keep Ants Out of Their Pants
A writhing ball of slimed-up, musky-smelling snake might be just the level of grossness needed to repel the attacks of voracious fire ants. New research published this spring in The Science of Nature revealed that the scent glands near the back-end of serpents can release enough nasty chemicals to kill ants on touch. 'It's a remarkable event,' said Robert Vander Meer, a research chemist with the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Previous research had shown that Texas blindsnakes, a largely underground species, might repel ants using the secretions they produce from glands near their cloaca, or the opening from which all snakes defecate. Many snakes will secrete this musk from these glands, located on their undersides, near their tails, rubbing their whole bodies in it. Dr. Vander Meer and his colleague, Paul Weldon, who was with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute before his death in 2022, wanted to test these observations in the lab. Dr. Weldon acquired scent-gland secretion samples from several species: the Middle American burrowing python, boa constrictor, ball python, king cobra, timber rattlesnake and unicolor cribo. First they sprayed musk taken from the Middle American burrowing python on ant species, but it didn't seem to have much effect. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
