Enormous pterosaur discovered in Scotland shows they existed 25 million years earlier than previously thought
Marianne Guenot
Wed, February 23, 2022
A preserved skeleton of a pterosaur found in Scotland is seen here, with the skull of the animal in the foreground.
The pterosaur's skeleton is seen embedded in the rock. The animal's skull is seen jutting out on the far right. It is placed next to the neck vertebrae, which connect to the shoulder and wing bones seen protruding from the rock.Gregory Funston
The animal would have had an estimated wingspan of over 8 feet, according to findings published in the journal Current Biology on Tuesday. It was a juvenile, so adults may have been bigger still, per the study.
This new species of pterosaur was called Dearc sgiathanach, which means winged reptile in Gaelic, just as pterosaur means winged reptile in Greek.
The pterosaur's skull, shown isolated from the rock
A diagram of Dearc sgiathanach's skeleton.Natalia Jagielska
Though they are not classified as dinosaurs, pterosaurs spanned the age of the dinosaurs from the late Triassic period, about 228 million years ago, to the end of the Cretaceous 66 million years ago.
Enormous pterosaurs, with wingspans reaching up to 30 ft — the likes of which appeared in the "Jurassic Park" movies — appeared during the Cretaceous era. Those were wiped out during a mass extinction event 66 million years ago.
Before the Skye fossil was found, scientists thought that pterosaurs would have been small for most of the time they existed.
The theory was that the physics of flight held back their development, as getting relatively heavy creatures to fly would have required a specialized type of wing that took time to evolve. Another theory was that the reptiles had to grow bigger to outcompete birds, which first appeared in the Cretaceous.
"It's been the entrenched idea for a long time that the big pterosaurs are the ones in the Cretaceous and before that they're all quite small," Funston said.
"That's kind of what you're taught in school."
The fossilized remains of the newly discovered pterosaur are shown.Gregory Funston
However, Dearc sgiathanach is thought to have flown around the then-tropical landscape of Scotland around 170 million years ago.
This was "way back in the Jurassic period," Professor Steve Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh, an author on the study, said in a video accompanying the finding.
That's much earlier than previously thought, and before any birds existed.
"I think it really does challenge a lot of the ideas that we had," Funston said.
An artist representation of pterosaurs interacting with a meat-eating dinosaur at the time.Natalia Jagielska
The fossil is likely to reveal more secrets as scientists dig into it further, Funston said.
"For this animal to be preserved in three dimensions without that squishing gives us kind of a new look at some of the different bones, he said
"For example, some regions of the skull, especially the delicate pallet, which is the roof of the mouth, are exceptionally well preserved in this animal."
"I'm sure there are gonna be some other surprises that come out of it, as we use new techniques to understand the bones and to analyze them," Funston said.
Marianne Guenot
Wed, February 23, 2022
A preserved skeleton of a pterosaur found in Scotland is seen here, with the skull of the animal in the foreground.
Gregory Funston
A rare, near-complete fossilized skeleton of a pterosaur was found in Scotland.
It would have been the largest animal to fly 170 million years ago, with an 8-foot wingspan.
The fossil changes our understanding of the evolution of the large winged animals.
Scientists uncovered the fossil of an enormous flying pterosaur that lived 170 million years ago, the first of its kind.
The findings push back our understanding of when these large animals were first able to fly, moving it around 25 million years further into the past, per a scientific study.
A rare, near-complete fossilized skeleton of a pterosaur was found in Scotland.
It would have been the largest animal to fly 170 million years ago, with an 8-foot wingspan.
The fossil changes our understanding of the evolution of the large winged animals.
Scientists uncovered the fossil of an enormous flying pterosaur that lived 170 million years ago, the first of its kind.
The findings push back our understanding of when these large animals were first able to fly, moving it around 25 million years further into the past, per a scientific study.
The pterosaur's skeleton is seen embedded in the rock. The animal's skull is seen jutting out on the far right. It is placed next to the neck vertebrae, which connect to the shoulder and wing bones seen protruding from the rock.Gregory Funston
The animal would have had an estimated wingspan of over 8 feet, according to findings published in the journal Current Biology on Tuesday. It was a juvenile, so adults may have been bigger still, per the study.
This new species of pterosaur was called Dearc sgiathanach, which means winged reptile in Gaelic, just as pterosaur means winged reptile in Greek.
The pterosaur's skull, shown isolated from the rock
Gregory Funston
The findings rely on the discovery of an exceptionally-well preserved fossil from Scotland's Isle of Skye, unearthed in 2017.
About 70% of the animal's skeleton was preserved in the fossil, one of the study authors told NBC News.
The bones were preserved in three dimensions, rather than compressed flat as is in most such fossils, said Greg Funston, a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh and another author on the paper told Insider.
The pterosaur's skull is shown next to its skeleton still embedded in the rock.University of Edinburgh promotional video
Crucial bones missing from the fossil make it impossible to know exactly how big the animal was, Funston said.
But a calculation developed by the study authors estimates its wingspan at about 8ft, a little smaller than an albatross.
By taking razor-thin cuts of the rock containing the fossil to look at them under a microscope, the scientists also found that the bones of the animal were still growing when the pterosaur died, meaning adult wingspans were likely larger.
The findings rely on the discovery of an exceptionally-well preserved fossil from Scotland's Isle of Skye, unearthed in 2017.
About 70% of the animal's skeleton was preserved in the fossil, one of the study authors told NBC News.
The bones were preserved in three dimensions, rather than compressed flat as is in most such fossils, said Greg Funston, a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh and another author on the paper told Insider.
The pterosaur's skull is shown next to its skeleton still embedded in the rock.University of Edinburgh promotional video
Crucial bones missing from the fossil make it impossible to know exactly how big the animal was, Funston said.
But a calculation developed by the study authors estimates its wingspan at about 8ft, a little smaller than an albatross.
By taking razor-thin cuts of the rock containing the fossil to look at them under a microscope, the scientists also found that the bones of the animal were still growing when the pterosaur died, meaning adult wingspans were likely larger.
A diagram of Dearc sgiathanach's skeleton.Natalia Jagielska
Though they are not classified as dinosaurs, pterosaurs spanned the age of the dinosaurs from the late Triassic period, about 228 million years ago, to the end of the Cretaceous 66 million years ago.
Enormous pterosaurs, with wingspans reaching up to 30 ft — the likes of which appeared in the "Jurassic Park" movies — appeared during the Cretaceous era. Those were wiped out during a mass extinction event 66 million years ago.
Before the Skye fossil was found, scientists thought that pterosaurs would have been small for most of the time they existed.
The theory was that the physics of flight held back their development, as getting relatively heavy creatures to fly would have required a specialized type of wing that took time to evolve. Another theory was that the reptiles had to grow bigger to outcompete birds, which first appeared in the Cretaceous.
"It's been the entrenched idea for a long time that the big pterosaurs are the ones in the Cretaceous and before that they're all quite small," Funston said.
"That's kind of what you're taught in school."
The fossilized remains of the newly discovered pterosaur are shown.Gregory Funston
However, Dearc sgiathanach is thought to have flown around the then-tropical landscape of Scotland around 170 million years ago.
This was "way back in the Jurassic period," Professor Steve Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh, an author on the study, said in a video accompanying the finding.
That's much earlier than previously thought, and before any birds existed.
"I think it really does challenge a lot of the ideas that we had," Funston said.
An artist representation of pterosaurs interacting with a meat-eating dinosaur at the time.Natalia Jagielska
The fossil is likely to reveal more secrets as scientists dig into it further, Funston said.
"For this animal to be preserved in three dimensions without that squishing gives us kind of a new look at some of the different bones, he said
"For example, some regions of the skull, especially the delicate pallet, which is the roof of the mouth, are exceptionally well preserved in this animal."
"I'm sure there are gonna be some other surprises that come out of it, as we use new techniques to understand the bones and to analyze them," Funston said.
Newly identified Jurassic Period flying reptile, or pterosaur, called 'Dearc sgiathanach'
Tue, February 22, 2022
By Will Dunham
(Reuters) - A fossil jawbone peeking out from a limestone seashore on Scotland's Isle of Skye led scientists to discover the skeleton of a pterosaur that showed that these remarkable flying reptiles got big tens of millions of years earlier than previously known.
Researchers said on Tuesday this pterosaur, named Dearc sgiathanach, lived roughly 170 million years ago during the Jurassic Period, soaring over lagoons in a subtropical landscape and catching fish and squid with crisscrossing teeth perfect for snaring slippery prey.
Its scientific name, pronounced "jark ski-an-ach," means "winged reptile" in Gaelic.
With a wingspan of about 8 feet (2.5 meters), Dearc was the Jurassic's largest-known pterosaur and the biggest flying creature that had inhabited Earth to that point in time. Some pterosaurs during the subsequent Cretaceous Period achieved much greater dimensions - as big as fighter jets. But Dearc shows that this scaling up had its origins much earlier.
A forensic analysis of its bones indicated this Dearc individual was not fully grown and could have had a 10-foot (3-meter) wingspan as an adult.
Dearc weighed very little - probably below 22 pounds (10 kg) - thanks to its hollow, lightweight bones and slender structure, said University of Edinburgh paleontology doctoral student Natalia Jagielska, lead author of the research published in the journal Current Biology.
It had an elongated skull and a long, stiff tail. An arsenal of sharp teeth formed a cage when it bit down on prey.
Pterosaurs, which lived alongside the dinosaurs, were the first of three vertebrate groups to achieve powered flight, appearing about 230 million years ago. Birds appeared about 150 million years ago and bats around 50 million years ago.
Pterosaurs are some of the rarest vertebrates in the fossil record owing to their fragile bones, some with walls thinner than a sheet of paper.
"Our specimen, anomalously, is well preserved - retaining its original three dimensions and being almost complete, and still articulated as it would be when alive. Such state of preservation is exceptionally rare in pterosaurs," Jagielska said.
Up until when Dearc lived, pterosaurs generally had been modest in size, many about the size of a seagull. The prevailing wisdom among scientists had been that pterosaurs did not reach Dearc's size until the Cretaceous, some 25 million years later, with the appearance of creatures like Huanhepterus, Feilongus and Elanodactylus. Quetzalcoatlus, appearing about 68 million years ago, boasted a wingspan of about 36 feet (11 meters), like an F-16 fighter.
"In the Cretaceous, some pterosaurs got enormous. These were some of the most superlative animals that ever lived. Dearc was not close to them in size or grandeur, but it was 100 million years older. Evolution needed time to make such giants," University of Edinburgh paleontologist and study co-author Steve Brusatte said.
"One idea is that pterosaurs only got larger after birds evolved, when the two groups were competing with each other for the aerial niches. But Dearc tells us that pterosaurs already got to be the size of today's largest birds even before the first birds evolved, so it throws a wrench into this idea," Brusatte added.
In Dearc's time, Britain was closer to the equator and existed as a series of smaller separate islands. Dearc lived alongside a menagerie of plant-eating and meat-eating dinosaurs, early mammals and marine reptiles.
Dearc was discovered in 2017, with the fossil jutting out from a limestone intertidal zone after the tide had gone down.
"We were gobsmacked," Brusatte said. "Nothing like this had ever been found in Scotland."
They battled the tide, first using hammers and chisels and then diamond-tipped saws. But the tide interrupted before the skeleton could be fully extracted.
"The tide came in with a vengeance, and we cried as the waves lapped over the fossil," Brusatte said. "We thought we lost it. But we decided to come back around midnight when the tide was down again, using our headlamps and flashlights. We were shocked and relieved to see the bones still there as the waves receded."
(Reporting by Will Dunham in Washington, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
Fossils of the 'largest animal that had ever flown' unearthed in Scotland
Asha C. Gilbert, USA TODAY
Tue, February 22, 2022,
Scientists say they have discovered the largest Jurassic pterosaur in history, with a wingspan of more than 8 feet and a mouth full of sharp teeth.
According to a peer-reviewed journal published in Cell, the dinosaur, Dearc sgiathanach, was found in Isle of Skye, Scotland, in 2017. Its skeleton was embedded in limestone.
Pterosaurs were reptiles and the earliest known animals to evolve for flight. They also are some of the largest flying creatures in history.
"While some of the last-surviving species were the size of airplanes, pterosaurs were long thought to be restricted to small body sizes from their Triassic origins through the Jurassic," the journal said.
This new discovery smashes that thought.
The bones of the pterosaur showed it was young and still growing when it died. It had an estimated wingspan larger than a king-size bed.
Pterosaurs were the earliest known animals to evolve for flight and some of the largest flying creatures in history.
“When this thing was living about 170 million years ago, it was the largest animal that had ever flown, at least that we know of,” Steve Brusatte, a co-author of the research from the University of Edinburgh, told The Guardian.
It had been believed pterosaurs were relatively small animals with wingspans of up to 6 feet and were incapable of reaching massive sizes during the Jurassic period, according to the journal.
What's everyone talking about? Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day
'Armless' but deadly: Is dinosaur fossil discovered in Argentina an entirely new species?
One hypothesis is the pterosaurs grew in size to beat out competition from other animals and feathered dinosaurs earlier than thought. They ate a wide variety of animals, insects and fish depending on where they lived, Live Science reported.
Brusatte told The Guardian that birds evolved from dinosaurs during the time this pterosaur was living, and the new discovery challenges the understanding of pterosaurs' history.
“We’ve really dragged back in time the evolution of large pterosaurs,” he said.
Follow reporter Asha Gilbert @Coastalasha. Email: agilbert@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: World's largest Jurassic pterosaur discovered in Scotland
Asha C. Gilbert, USA TODAY
Tue, February 22, 2022,
Scientists say they have discovered the largest Jurassic pterosaur in history, with a wingspan of more than 8 feet and a mouth full of sharp teeth.
According to a peer-reviewed journal published in Cell, the dinosaur, Dearc sgiathanach, was found in Isle of Skye, Scotland, in 2017. Its skeleton was embedded in limestone.
Pterosaurs were reptiles and the earliest known animals to evolve for flight. They also are some of the largest flying creatures in history.
"While some of the last-surviving species were the size of airplanes, pterosaurs were long thought to be restricted to small body sizes from their Triassic origins through the Jurassic," the journal said.
This new discovery smashes that thought.
The bones of the pterosaur showed it was young and still growing when it died. It had an estimated wingspan larger than a king-size bed.
Pterosaurs were the earliest known animals to evolve for flight and some of the largest flying creatures in history.
“When this thing was living about 170 million years ago, it was the largest animal that had ever flown, at least that we know of,” Steve Brusatte, a co-author of the research from the University of Edinburgh, told The Guardian.
It had been believed pterosaurs were relatively small animals with wingspans of up to 6 feet and were incapable of reaching massive sizes during the Jurassic period, according to the journal.
What's everyone talking about? Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day
'Armless' but deadly: Is dinosaur fossil discovered in Argentina an entirely new species?
One hypothesis is the pterosaurs grew in size to beat out competition from other animals and feathered dinosaurs earlier than thought. They ate a wide variety of animals, insects and fish depending on where they lived, Live Science reported.
Brusatte told The Guardian that birds evolved from dinosaurs during the time this pterosaur was living, and the new discovery challenges the understanding of pterosaurs' history.
“We’ve really dragged back in time the evolution of large pterosaurs,” he said.
Follow reporter Asha Gilbert @Coastalasha. Email: agilbert@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: World's largest Jurassic pterosaur discovered in Scotland
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