About 170 million years ago, on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, there lived a huge flying reptile with a wingspan of about 2.5 meters. The remains of this Jurassic pterosaur – informally known as a pterodactyl – have now been found by fossil hunters. According to them, it is the largest of the species ever identified.
The fossil is quite complete, which sets it apart from other discoveries. It was nicknamed, in Scottish Gaulic by Dearc sgiathanach (“winged reptile” or “Skye’s reptile”).
“It’s probably about 70% complete, which is really great for a pterosaur because they’re very difficult to fossilize,” said Professor Steve Brusatte, co-author of the research carried out by the University of Edinburgh.
The walls of the bones of these animals are thin and, according to an analysis carried out by the team, the animal is still in the growth phase, and the wingspan of an adult could reach more than 3 meters.
Hunters say that the animal had a mouth full of sharp teeth, which it used to pierce and catch fish.
Previous findings led to the belief that pterosaurs only reached such a size until about 25 million years after the now known date. That is, during the Jurassic they did not grow more than about 1.6 to 1.8 meters, considering that the evolution to larger species occurred later, during the Cretaceous period.
“When it lived, about 170 million years ago, it was the largest animal that ever flew, as far as we know,” said Steve Brusatte, quoted by The Guardian. He added that “we really go back in time to the evolution of large pterosaurs.”
With the new findings, the possibility arises that competition between birds has driven the growth in size of pterosaurs, due to evolutionary pressures.
An analysis of the pterosaur’s skull was also carried out and a digital model of the brain was subsequently produced that shows that the animal had very large optic lobes, which may indicate that it had very good eyesight.
In 1828 another pterosaur was discovered in the UK, dubbed the “flying dragon”, by fossil hunter Mary Anning.
Less enthusiastic was David Unwin of the University of Leicester, who was not part of the research. The expert says that the statement that this is the largest fossil of its kind is debatable, given that the fragmented bones of other fossils already suggested similar dimensions. Still, he said the discovery was of high importance, given the scarcity of such complete pterosaur remains, calling it “a major piece in the jigsaw puzzle of pterosaur evolutionary history.”
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