New species of flying reptile that lived among dinosaurs 200 million years ago discovered
Scientists at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History uncovered the fossilised jawbone of the creature in 2011, and have now identified it to be the oldest known species of pterosaur in North America.
Unearthed at a remote bonebed in Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, its jawbone was preserved in volcanic ash 209 million years ago.
The new species would have been small enough to comfortably perch on a person's shoulder.
The remarkable fossil was unearthed by Suzanne McIntire, who volunteered in the museum's FossiLab for 18 years.
'What was exciting about uncovering this specimen was that the teeth were still in the bone, so I knew the animal would be much easier to identify,' McIntire said.
Because the tips of the teeth were worn down, the team concluded that the pterosaur likely fed on the site's fish, many of which were encased in armor-like scales.
The team named the new pterosaur species Eotephradactylus mcintireae. The name means 'ash-winged dawn goddess' and references the site's volcanic ash where the fossil was found.
This part of northeastern Arizona was positioned in the middle of Pangaea and sat just above the equator 209 million years ago.
The area was crisscrossed by small river channels and likely prone to seasonal floods - these floods washed sediment and volcanic ash into the channels and likely buried the creatures preserved in the bonebed.
In total, the team has uncovered more than 1,200 individual fossils, including bones, teeth, fish scales and coprolites, or fossilised faeces.
The researchers also described the fossils of an ancient turtle with spike-like armor and a shell that could fit inside a shoebox. This tortoise-like animal lived around the same time as the oldest known turtle, whose fossils were previously uncovered in Germany.
'This suggests that turtles rapidly dispersed across Pangaea, which is surprising for an animal that is not very large and is likely walking at a slow pace,' Kligman said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
Below a Denver museum filled with dinosaur skeleton exhibits, a 70 million-year-old fossil is unearthed
A museum popular for its dinosaur displays has found a fossil bone in an unexpected location extremely close to home – under its own parking lot. The discovery was made underneath the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, a much-loved venue for dinosaur enthusiasts of all ages. It came from a hole drilled more than 750 feet (230 meters) deep to study geothermal heating potential. This latest find is not so visually impressive. Even so, the odds of finding the hockey-puck-shaped piece of rock were impressively small. With a bore only a couple of inches (5 centimeters) wide, museum officials struggled to describe just how unlikely it was to hit a dinosaur, even in a region with a fair number of such fossils. 'Finding a dinosaur bone in a core is like hitting a hole in one from the moon. It's like winning the Willy Wonka factory. It's incredible, it's super rare,' said James Hagadorn, the museum's curator of geology. Only two similar finds have been noted in bore hole samples anywhere in the world, not to mention on the grounds of a dinosaur museum, according to museum officials. A vertebra of a smallish, plant-eating dinosaur is believed to be the source. It lived in the late Cretaceous period around 67.5 million years ago. An asteroid impact brought the long era of dinosaurs to an end around 66 million years ago, according to scientists. Fossilized vegetation also was found in the bore hole near the bone. 'This animal was living in what was probably a swampy environment that would have been heavily vegetated at the time,' said Patrick O'Connor, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Dinosaur discoveries in the area over the years include portions of Tyrannosaurus rex and triceratops-type fossils. This one is Denver's deepest and oldest yet, O'Connor said. Other experts in the field vouched for the find's legitimacy but with mixed reactions. 'It's a surprise, I guess. Scientifically it's not that exciting,' said Thomas Williamson, curator of paleontology at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science in Albuquerque. There was no way to tell exactly what species of dinosaur it was, Williamson noted. The find is "absolutely legit and VERY COOL!' Erin LaCount, director of education programs at the Dinosaur Ridge track site just west of Denver, said by email. The fossil's shape suggests it was a duck-billed dinosaur or thescelosaurus, a smaller but somewhat similar species, LaCount noted. The bore-hole fossil is now on display in the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, of course, but there are no plans to look for more under the parking lot. 'I would love to dig a 763-foot (233-meter) hole in the parking lot to excavate that dinosaur, the rest of it. But I don't think that's going to fly because we really need parking,' Hagadorn said.
The Guardian
a day ago
- The Guardian
Denver museum known for dinosaur displays finds fossil under its parking lot
A Denver museum known for its dinosaur displays has made a fossil bone discovery closer to home than anyone ever expected: under its own parking lot. It came from a hole drilled more than 750 ft (230 meters) deep to study geothermal heating potential for the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. The museum is popular with dinosaur enthusiasts of all ages. Full-size dinosaur skeletons amaze children barely knee-high to a parent. This latest find is not so visually impressive. Even so, the odds of finding the hockey-puck-shaped fossil sample were impressively small. With a bore only a couple of inches (5cm) wide, museum officials struggled to describe just how unlikely it was to hit a dinosaur, even in a region with a fair number of such fossils. 'Finding a dinosaur bone in a core is like hitting a hole in one from the moon. It's like winning the Willy Wonka factory. It's incredible, it's super rare,' said James Hagadorn, the museum's curator of geology. Only two similar finds have been noted in bore hole samples anywhere in the world, not to mention on the grounds of a dinosaur museum, according to museum officials. A vertebra of a smallish, plant-eating dinosaur is believed to be the source. It lived in the late Cretaceous period around 67.5m years ago. An asteroid impact brought the long era of dinosaurs to an end around 66m years ago, according to scientists. Fossilized vegetation also was found in the bore hole near the bone. 'This animal was living in what was probably a swampy environment that would have been heavily vegetated at the time,' said Patrick O'Connor, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the museum. Dinosaur discoveries in the area over the years include portions of Tyrannosaurus rex and triceratops-type fossils. This one is Denver's deepest and oldest yet, O'Connor said. Other experts in the field vouched for the find's legitimacy but with mixed reactions. 'It's a surprise, I guess. Scientifically, it's not that exciting,' said Thomas Williamson, curator of paleontology at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science in Albuquerque. There was no way to tell exactly what species of dinosaur it was, Williamson noted. The find is 'absolutely legit and VERY COOL!' Erin LaCount, director of education programs at the Dinosaur Ridge track site just west of Denver, said by email. The fossil's shape suggests it was a duck-billed dinosaur or thescelosaurus, a smaller but somewhat similar species, LaCount noted. The bore-hole fossil is now on display in the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, of course, but there are no plans to look for more under the parking lot. 'I would love to dig a 763ft (233-meter) hole in the parking lot to excavate that dinosaur, the rest of it. But I don't think that's going to fly because we really need parking,' Hagadorn said.
BBC News
a day ago
- BBC News
Denver dinosaur fossil found at museum car park
A museum in Denver in the US, which is well known for its dinosaur displays, has just discovered a fossil of its own - under its car park!The Denver Museum of Science and Nature was drilling into the ground to look at the potential for the building to use geothermal energy is a type of renewable energy that uses the Earth's natural heat to warm homes and businesses or generate Hagadorn, who works at the museum, said finding the bone in this way was "super rare". The bone was found in a hole drilled more than 750ft (230 meters) into the ground, but the hole was only a couple of inches officials struggled to say just how unlikely it was to hit a fossil in this way, even in an area where a number of fossils have been found say that only two have been found in this way anywhere in the world before, let alone on the grounds of a dinosaur museum!Thomas Williamson, an expert from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science in Albuquerque, says the way it was found is certainly surprising, but "scientifically it's not that exciting". Thomas Williamson also said there is no way to tell exactly what species of dinosaur it those at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science believe the bone is the vertebra of a plant-eating dinosaur that would have been quite say it lived in the late Cretaceous period around 67.5 million years fossil is now on display in the museum, but there are no further plans to look for more under the car Hagadorn said he'd love to have a look for the rest of the dinosaur, but he can't see that happening as they "really need parking".
