Ptermaineenness of the pterosaur, found in Southern Germany, belonging to the winged reptile family and differing from its other relatives with a short, hard and pointed tail, sheds light on the evolution of this species.
According to Science Daily, scientists called a new type of flying reptile “Skiphosoura Bavarica”, which means “tail-sword from Bavaria.”
A group of scientists under the leadership of the paleontologist Dr. David Hown from the University of London of Queen Mary.
“Skiphosoura is an important form for the instillation of the evolutionary connections of pterosaurs and, in a broader sense, how this line arose and changed,” said Adam Fich from the University of Wisconsin -Meaddison, one of the authors of the study.
Founded fossils are well preserved, unlike most of the pterosaur samples. In particular, she retained almost every bone, and in three dimensions.
It is noted that the pterosaurus resembled a golden eagle with a wingspan of about 2 meters.
As a rule, paleontologists divided pterosaurs into two main groups: early Nepterodactyloids and later and much larger pterodactyloids.
Early pterosaurs had short heads on short necks, a short bone in the wing wrist, a long 5th finger on the leg and long tails, and pterodactyloids-large heads on long necks, long wrists, a shorter 5th finger on the leg and foot and Short tail. However, what parts of their body changed between these groups were unknown.
The opening of a new type of flying reptile “Skiphosoura Bavarica” sheds light on the changes that occurred between two types of animals.
The study also presents a new reconstruction of the evolutionary genealogical tree of pterosaurs.
The study is published in the journal “Current Biology”.