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A fossil that languished in a museum drawer in Brighton, mistakenly labeled as a shark fin skeleton, has now been identified as an entirely new species of prehistoric flying reptile that has soared majestically above what are now the Cambridgeshire fens.
Roy Smith, a doctoral student at the University of Portsmouth, identified the creature after realizing it was much more unusual and interesting than its label suggested. He identified the fossil as the tip of the beak of a new species of pterosaur (from Greek for “winged lizard”), a creature that existed 228m-66m years ago and the oldest vertebrate known to have evolved into powered flight. .
Pterosaurs with this type of beak have been found in North Africa, so Smith and others who have studied the find say it is reasonable to assume a resemblance to the alanqa, a frightening creature believed to have a wingspan of 4. meters or more.
Smith discovered the creature while trawling fossil collections held at the Booth Museum in Brighton. The fossils were originally discovered by workers looking for phosphates in the Fens in the 19th century, who sold them for a little more money.
It was as Smith examined the fossils of what were referred to as shark fin thorns that he realized that some of them were actually fragments of pterosaur jaws or beaks. They look like shark fin spines but with crucial differences.
Smith said, “One of those features are tiny little holes where nerves rise to the surface and are used for the sensitive feeding of pterosaurs. Shark fin spines do not have them, but early paleontologists clearly lacked these characteristics.
“Two of the specimens found can be identified as a pterosaur called an ornithostome, but an additional specimen is clearly distinct and represents a new species. It is a paleontological mystery.
Smith, 26, from Derbyshire, has been hunting fossils since a young age, but it is by far his most exciting find. He grew up looking for fossils in coal mines and on Tuesday he was looking for new finds on Portsmouth seafront, where work is underway on the old town walls. “I couldn’t find anything,” he says.
He said he was about to stop the work the day he made his discovery. “I had some time to kill, so I started rummaging through other drawers. I was extremely excited when I came across this specimen, which was glued to a board.
Victorians who were interested in the fossils found in the Fens included naturalist Sir Richard Owen, who campaigned for the establishment of the Natural History Museum in London.
“Unfortunately, this specimen is too fragmentary to serve as a basis for the naming of the new species. Unfortunately, it is doubtful that any other remains of this pterosaur will be discovered, as there are no longer exhibits of the rock from which the fossils came. But I hope that other museum collections can contain more examples. As soon as the Covid restrictions are lifted, he plans to continue his search for other people.
Smith’s supervisor Professor Dave Martill said: “The little beak is enticing in that it is small and just differs from the ornithostome in subtle ways, perhaps in the way a great white egret might differ. of a heron. The differences in life would have been more related to color, appeal and behavior than to the skeleton.
“It’s extremely exciting – to have discovered this mysterious pterosaur right here in the UK. This finding is important because it adds to our knowledge of these ancient and fascinating prehistoric flying reptiles, but also demonstrates that such discoveries can be made, simply by re-examining material in ancient collections.
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