Starting from the Raid, Even Found a Pterosaur Fossil

Hitekno.com – Starting from the raids carried out police Brazil, even found pterosaur fossils in very good condition.

Even discovery fossil pterosaurus this is said to be the most detailed ever discovered to date.

Brazilian authorities investigated the illegal fossil trade in 2013 and found fossils of the pterosaur Tupandactylus navigans among 3,000 other specimens.

Now, paleontologists at the University of São Paulo realize that it is the most complete fossil of the Tapejaridae (a group of crested pterosaurs), after putting the two-meter-tall fossil slab together.

CT scan reveals stunning details of the head ornament animal which is heavy because it has a size almost half of the total height of the pterosaur.

Findings of pterosaurs are relatively rare in the fossil record because they had thin-walled, fragile, hollow bones.

Previously, only the head fragments of the Tapejaridae had been found.

According to the analysis, the lack of oxygen at the discovery site plays an important role in the preservation of soft tissue and fossil beaks.

Tupandactylus navigans also has a strange crest that hangs from its lower jaw.

“This pterosaur had a wingspan of more than 2.5 meters and a height of 1 meter. With its high crest of head and relatively long neck, this animal may be limited to short-haul flights,” said Victor Beccari, a paleontologist at the University of São Paulo, quoted from Science Alert, Friday (27/8/2021).

Living about 115 million years ago, these animals used their ability to fly to escape predators.

The scientists also compared this fossil with previous findings and suspect some of the differences may be due to sexual dimorphism.

Meanwhile, members of the same species appear different depending on their gender.

Even so, this hypothesis still needs to be investigated further.

According to Beccari, this animal eats fruit from the ground or uses its long neck to take food from taller bushes.

In terms of the fossil trade, illegal export of fossils like this is a big problem for Brazil. Luckily the police found it before the fossil disappeared into the hands of private collectors.

That’s the discovery of Pterosaur fossils originated from the Brazilian police raids. (Suara.com/ Lintang Siltya Utami).

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