[ad_1]
Scientists unveiled Tuesday a new species of pterosaur, the aircraft-sized reptiles that dominated the primitive skies above the T-rex, Triceratops and other late Cretaceous dinosaurs.
With a wingspan of ten meters and a weight of 250 kg, Cryodrakon boreas rivals another pterosaur, considered the biggest flying animal of all time, researchers have reported in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
"It's an interesting discovery," said David Hone, lead author of the study and researcher at Queen Mary University in London.
"It's great that we can identify Cryodrakon as distinct from Quetzalcoatlus," the other giant pterosaur for which he was initially mistaken, he said in a statement.
C. Boreas hid in the sight of all.
His remains were discovered for the first time more than 30 years ago in Alberta, Canada, but aroused little enthusiasm because of misclassification.
But looking more closely at the fossil remains of a juvenile and intact giant neck bones of an adult specimen, there is no doubt that a new species has been discovered.
Like other winged reptiles living at the same time, about 77 million years ago, C. boreas was carnivorous and probably ate lizards, small mammals and even baby dinosaurs.
Despite a likely ability to cross large expanses of water, the location of fossil remains and animal features suggest an inland habitat, said Hone.
There are more than 100 known species of pterosaurs.
Despite their large size and wide distribution – in North and South America, Asia, Africa and Europe – only fragmentary remains have been discovered, making the new discovery particularly important.
[ad_2]
Source link