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New species of flying reptile revealed in fossil
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by Karenke4 | December 3, 2008 at 04:43 pm
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Scientists have discovered a new species of of flying reptile, calling it Lacusovagus. The fossil reveals this new pterosaur had a wing span of over 16 ft and would be more than three feet tall at its shoulder.
The fossil was discovered in Araripe Basin in north eastern Brazil. It had been sitting in a museum in Germany, unidentified for several years. The fossil links the reptile to a group of toothless pterosaurs, to this date recognized only in China.
The partial skull fossil, found in Brazil, is the first example of a chaoyangopteridae, a group of toothless pterosaurs, to be found outside China.
Mr Witton said: "Some of the previous examples we have from this family in China are just 60cm (2ft) long - as big as the skull of the new species.
"Put simply, it dwarfs any chaoyangopterid we've seen before by miles."
The discovery will require further analysis, but for now scientists are hoping to find other similar remains from which they can draw more conclusions.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (4)
at 04:48 on December 4th, 2008
Ken... wonderful. Thank you for using my photo.
at 06:38 on December 4th, 2008
A photo of a pterosaur replica at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), taken in August of 2008.
RyanJames has contributed a photo to this story.
at 22:18 on December 4th, 2008
New spotted stuff, interested to read it. I think this are the species of flying mammals may be ..
Keen to wait and watch whats it all about
Cheers,,
at 21:00 on December 5th, 2008
Thanks for asking about the use of my photos of funky roadside pterodactyls.
Really though, the best image (& description) of the new critter is here:
http://flickr.com/photos/markwitton/3064512264/