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Fourth new pterosaur discovery in matter of weeks -- ScienceDaily
Hot on the heels of a recent paper discovering three new species of pterosaur, University of Portsmouth palaeobiologists have identified another new species -- the first of its kind to be found on African soil.
Pterosaurs are the less well-known cousins of dinosaurs. They had adept flying ability -- some as large as a fighter jet and others as small as a model aeroplane.
The new species belongs to a group of pterosaurs called tapejarids from the Cretaceous period. Tapejarids were small to medium-sized pterosaurs with wingspans perhaps as wide as four metres, most of which had large, broad crests sweeping up from the front of the skull.
They are well known in Brazil and China, and specimens have also been discovered in Europe, but this is the first time the flying reptile has been found in Africa.
It differs from the three recent species discovered as this one had no teeth -- it was 'edentulous'.
The new pterosaur has been named Afrotapejara zouhrii to honour the Moroccan palaeontologist Professor Samir Zouhri.
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Pterosaurs were very diversified & apparently had world-wide distribution.
Hot on the heels of a recent paper discovering three new species of pterosaur, University of Portsmouth palaeobiologists have identified another new species -- the first of its kind to be found on African soil.
Pterosaurs are the less well-known cousins of dinosaurs. They had adept flying ability -- some as large as a fighter jet and others as small as a model aeroplane.
The new species belongs to a group of pterosaurs called tapejarids from the Cretaceous period. Tapejarids were small to medium-sized pterosaurs with wingspans perhaps as wide as four metres, most of which had large, broad crests sweeping up from the front of the skull.
They are well known in Brazil and China, and specimens have also been discovered in Europe, but this is the first time the flying reptile has been found in Africa.
It differs from the three recent species discovered as this one had no teeth -- it was 'edentulous'.
The new pterosaur has been named Afrotapejara zouhrii to honour the Moroccan palaeontologist Professor Samir Zouhri.
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Pterosaurs were very diversified & apparently had world-wide distribution.
