200 million year-old jawbone revealed as new species

Scientists discovered a new type of Pterosaur – a flying reptile rising on dinosaurs more than 200 million years ago.

The jaw bone of the old reptile was unearthed in Arizona in 2011, but modern screening techniques revealed details showing that a new genre belongs to science.

Smithsonian’s research team led by scientists at the National Museum of Natural History at Washington DC chose the creature of Eophradactylus McINTEAE, which means “the goddess of dawn”.

The volcanic ash, which helps to protect its bones in an old river bed, is a reference.

Details of Discover Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Approximately 209 million years old, it is believed to be the oldest Pterosaur in North America.

“The bones of the trias pterosaur are small, thin and often empty, so they are destroyed before fossilization.”

The location of this discovery is a fossil bed in the desert landscape of the ancient rock in the Grown Forest National Park.

More than 200 million years ago, it was a river bed and gradually fell into the trap at that time and protected bones, scales and other life evidence.

The river passed through the central region of the super continent of Pangea, which consists of all the land masses of the Earth.

Pterosaur is only part of a collection of fossils in the same area, including bones, teeth, fish scales and even fossilized poop (also known as coprois).

Dr Kligman said: “Our ability to recognize the pterosaur bones [these ancient] River deposits show that there may be other beds that can protect the pterosaur bones from Trias rocks around the world. “

Examining the teeth of Pterosaur, he gave clues about what to eat.

“There is an unusual abrasion in the clues,” he explained. Kligman. This argues that Pterosaur is fed with something with hard body parts. ”

The most likely hunting, BBC News, the bond scales are a primitive fish to be covered with an armor, he said.

Scientists, discovery field, giant amphibians and old armored crocodile relatives, including currently exhausted animal groups, frogs and turtles, including the animals we can recognize today, including the “instant image of an ecosystem, he says.

Dr. Kligman said that this fossil bed maintained a evolutionary “transition” evidence 200 million years ago.

“Then we see groups living with old animals. [didn’t] Pass Trias.

“Such fossil beds allow us to determine that all these animals really live together.”