Fossilized vomit reveals first filter-feeding pterosaur in the tropics

A flying relative of dinosaurs, Bakiribu waridza (“comb mouth” in the Kariri language) filtered crustaceans and other small organisms from rivers and lakes, where it was likely swallowed by a predator that regurgitated it in the Araripe Basin in Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

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About 110 million years ago, two small pterosaurs, each about the size of a seagull, were flying over a lake or river, looking for food or perhaps bathing, when they were devoured by a large dinosaur or pterosaur. Later, when the predator passed through the Araripe Basin, a coastal region nearby, it regurgitated the least digestible parts of the pterosaurs – their skulls – as well as four fish that it had swallowed in a later meal.

In 2024, a group of researchers affiliated with Brazilian universities found the first species of filter-feeding pterosaur in the tropics in this vomit, which had been fossilized and stored in a museum for decades. The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.

“It was very unexpected, because fossils from the Araripe region have been studied for decades and almost 30 types of pterosaurs had already been found, none of them filter feeders. We didn’t expect to find a new family for that region,” says Rubi Vargas Pêgas, who is conducting postdoctoral research at the Museum of Zoology of the University of São Paulo (MZ-USP) in Brazil with a fellowship from FAPESP.

Filter-feeding pterosaurs had fine, bristle-like teeth that were very close together. They used these teeth to filter small aquatic organisms, such as crustaceans. For that reason, they were linked to freshwater habitats rather than saltwater habitats, such as the Araripe Basin, during that period.

Therefore, the regurgitation helps explain why Bakiribu waridza, meaning “comb mouth” in the Kariri language, was in that region. The Araripe Basin is now part of three Brazilian states: Piauí, Ceará, and Pernambuco. However, it is a plateau only 160 kilometers long from east to west and 30 to 50 kilometers wide from north to south.

“It was therefore an environment surrounded by others that weren’t necessarily preserved in the fossil record. This species might never have been known if it hadn’t been regurgitated in Araripe, known for the preservation of its fossils,” adds Pêgas, who completed an internship at the Beipiao Pterosaur Museum in China, also with a scholarship from FAPESP.

The “regurgitallite,” or fossilized vomit, showed signs of wear on the pterosaur bones due to gastric juices, as well as four well-preserved fish that were likely swallowed shortly before being “returned” with the Bakiribu.

Paleontologist Aline M. Ghilardi, a professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) who coordinated the study, was particularly interested in the orientation of the remains, all of which were in the same direction. “Today’s fish-eating birds swallow animals whole by the head to avoid choking on fins. Whoever ate the Bakiribu and the fish probably did so in the same way, since they are all oriented in the same direction,” she explains.

The most likely predator was a spinosaurid, such as Irritator challengeri. This was one of the few piscivores in the region that ate pterosaurs and was large enough to hold Bakiribu, the four fish, and other prey in its stomach.

A less likely candidate would be a larger pterosaur, Tropeognathus mesembrinus. With a wingspan of about eight meters, it was the only one large enough to swallow the filter feeders in the region.

Museums

Bakiribu waridza belongs to the Ctenochasmatidae family of pterosaurs. Until now, species of this family had only been found in Europe, East Asia, and southern South America (Argentina). Within the evolutionary tree of pterosaurs, the new Araripe species lies between the more recent Argentine species, Pterodaustro guinazui, and the older European genus, Ctenochasma.

The rock block was found in the collection of the Câmara Cascudo Museum at UFRN, located in a region not part of the Araripe region. Supervised by Ghilardi, scientific initiation student William Bruno de S. Almeida, supervised by Ghilardi, was conducting a survey of the museum’s fish fossils when he came across the pterosaur.

“Fish are very abundant organisms in the Araripe fossil record, which is perhaps why no one realized that among them was an animal that was still unknown,” suspects Pêgas.

Upon realizing that it was a pterosaur, Ghilardi assembled a team of experts who examined the fossil in Natal. Within a few days, they wrote the first draft of the published scientific article.

The rock containing the fossil is composed of two mirrored parts. One part was donated to the Plácido Cidade Nuvens Museum of Paleontology at the Regional University of Cariri (URCA) in Santana do Cariri, Ceará.

“We incorporated an ethical and decolonial bias into this work. The transfer ensures the preservation of the piece in its territory of origin,” Ghilardi concludes. He was one of the people responsible for repatriating the Ubirajara jubatus dinosaur to Cariri in 2023. German researchers had previously described the dinosaur based on a fossil obtained illegally in the 1990s (read more at revistapesquisa.fapesp.br/en/dinosaur-fossil-to-be-returned-to-brazil/). 

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Journal

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-025-22983-3 

Article Title

A regurgitalite reveals a new filter-feeding pterosaur from the Santana Group

 

Scientists from the American Museum of Natural History discovered more than 70 new species in 2025

Newly described species range from insects to mammals to a new mineral

American Museum of Natural History

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A new genus and species of sea anemone, Endolobactis simoesii

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Credit: © Ricardo Gonzalez Muñoz

From fruit flies that bite to a tiny mouse opossum and a feathered dinosaur preserved with the remains of its last meal, more than 70 new species were described this year by researchers at the American Museum of Natural History. The discoveries span an extraordinary range of life—dinosaurs, mammals, fishes, reptiles, insects, arachnids, marine invertebrates, and even a previously unknown mineral, highlighting the Museum’s continued leadership in exploring the natural world.

Some of these species are the result of recent fieldwork and modern collecting expeditions, while others were uncovered by revisiting specimens that had been preserved in the Museum’s collections for decades, awaiting new technologies and fresh scientific insight.

“Together, these discoveries highlight the remarkable richness of Earth’s biodiversity and underscore the enduring value of natural history collections,” said the Museum’s Senior Vice President and Provost of Science Cheryl Hayashi. “Specimens preserved across generations continue to reveal new insights, reminding us how much there is still to learn about life on our planet.”

Among the newly described species are:

• A new genus and species of sea anemone, Endolobactis simoesii, that has frond-like projections located on its lobes. The discovery results from an effort to improve scientists’ understanding of the diversity of sea anemones of the Atlantic side of Mexico and brings the number of documented species in this region to 24. (Zootaxa)

 

• Two species of fruit flies whose mouthparts are modified into a pair of hard “jaws” in the males. An extraordinary feature among flies, these structures are likely used for grasping the female during courtship. Both species are known from single specimens collected from the Philippines in the 1930s but just recently studied. (Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington)

 

• A Jurassic reptile with python-like hooked teeth and a body similar to a gecko’s that has links to the origins of lizards and snakes. The new species, Breugnathair elgolensis, was discovered in Scotland’s Isle of Skye by an international team of researchers and is one of the oldest relatively complete fossil lizards yet discovered. (Nature)

 

• A new species of mineral, called Lucasite-(La), which was discovered within a volcanic rock in Russia. The mineral was officially approved by the International Mineralogical Association this year, and the type material is now part of the Museum’s permanent collection. (European Journal of Mineralogy)

 

• A small species of mouse opossum with an exceptionally long nose and tail (Marmosa chachapoya). The mouse opossum was found in Parque Nacional Rio Abiseo in a remote part of the Peruvian Andes formerly occupied by people of the pre-Columbian Chachapoya culture, for which the species is named. Few species of mouse opossums have been collected at such a high elevation. (American Museum Novitates)

 

• A squirrel-sized animal that lived in the early Jurassic in what is now China between about 174 and 201 million years ago, Camurocondylus lufengensis. In a study led by researchers at the Museum and at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, C. lufengensis was detailed along with a second species discovered in the 1980s, finding that the evolution of the modern mammal jaw is more complex than previously thought. (Nature)

 

• A new genus and species of a crinoid, an ancient group of marine animals still alive today—sometimes called sea lilies—that are related to starfish, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers. Discovered on the Natiscotec River on Anticosti Island, Quebec, the new fossil species, Anticosticrinus natiscotecensis, has a unique pattern of plates on the main structure of its body. (Journal of Paleontology)

 

• A fish from northwestern Madagascar that was discovered more than 20 years ago when the lead scientist was a graduate student. The new species, a cichlid that was named Paretroplus risengi, is distinguished by unique breeding coloration among other features. (Deep Blue Documents)

 

• Forty-seven species of fossil and modern insects, primarily bees, including a “teddy bear” bee species from Vietnam, Habropoda pierwolae (Raffles Bulletin of Zoology); a cuckoo bee with long, sword-like spines on its back, Xiphodioxys haladai (American Museum Novitates); a digger bee from Chile, Anthophora brunneipecten, with a small comb on its face for combing up pollen from its host plants (Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine); and a fossil bumble bee species from the crater lake of Enspel, Germany, still carrying pollen, Bombus messegus (New Phytologist)

 

• Two new species from the group of earliest feathered dinosaurs that lived about 125 million years ago in what is now China: one that was originally identified as a primitive “bird,” Sinosauropteryx lingyuanensis, and was discovered more than 10 years ago; and the other, Huadanosaurus sinensis, which was found with two mammal skeletons in its abdomen, the remains of its last meal. (National Science Review)

 

• Two new species of suckermouth catfishes from rapids along the Congo River, Chiloglanis kinsuka and Chiloglanis wagenia. These sister species are both highly adapted to the river and are separated by nearly 1 mile of river (1600 kilometers). (American Museum Novitates)

 

• Four species of small “sap” flies (family Aulacigastridae) in 17 million-year old amber from the Dominican Republic, captured when the tree resin was still soft. These flies today feed on the sap of wounded trees. The species reveal a surprising connection between the Caribbean and North America, since most such connections today and in the past are with Central and South America. (Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington)

 

• A suckermouthed minnow from the highlands of Vietnam that was collected and shelved 25 years ago by Museum ichthyologists and only recently examined. This is the first species of this genus discovered in Vietnam, and it was given the name Supradiscus varidiscus. (American Museum Novitates)

 

• Four different arachnids, including a scorpion from Iran—Hemiscorpius jiroftensis—whose venom is of interest in the development of pharmaceuticals (Diversity); a giant vinegaroon/whip scorpion from Mexico, Mastigoproctus spinifemoratus, discovered in collections borrowed from the California Academy of Sciences (Arthropoda); a short-tailed whip scorpion from the Venezuelan Amazon, Jipai longevus (Zootaxa); and a troglomorphic, cave-dwelling hooded tick-spider from Venezuela, Cryptocellus armasi (Zootaxa)

 

• A cryptic large-eyed fish from the Kouilou-Niari River in the Republic of the Congo that had long been misidentified. The new species, Labeo niariensis, a type of African fish known as Labeo, a type of carp, is based on specimens collected between 2010 and 2013. (Journal of Fish Biology)

 

• A pollen wasp (Metaparagia cuttacutta) collected in the Northern Territory, Australia. It represents the tenth described species of this genus and was collected by the lead scientist while he was stranded in Australia for eight months during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Australian Entomologist)

A new species of small “sap” fly, Aulacigaster alabaster, preserved in 17 million-year old amber from the Dominican Republic

Credit

© David Grimaldi

A new species of mouse opossum with an exceptionally long nose and tail, Marmosa chachapoya

Credit

© Pedro Peloso

ABOUT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (AMNH)

The American Museum of Natural History in New York City, founded in 1869 with a dual mission of scientific research and science education, is one of the world’s preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions. The Museum encompasses more than 40 permanent exhibition halls, galleries for temporary exhibitions, the Rose Center for Earth and Space including the Hayden Planetarium, and the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation. The Museum’s scientists draw on a world-class permanent collection of more than 30 million specimens and objects, some of which are billions of years old, and on one of the largest natural history libraries in the world. Through its Richard Gilder Graduate School, the Museum offers two of the only free-standing, degree-granting programs of their kind at any U.S. museum: the Ph.D. program in Comparative Biology and the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Earth Science residency program. Visit amnh.org for more information.

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Against previous assumptions: Shark and ray diversity is declining, not increasing

Surprising long-term decline reveals urgent conservation priorities: preserving and restoring diverse coastal habitats

University of Vienna

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Fig. 1: A young whitetip reef shark (Triaenodon obesus) rests under a table coral off the coast of Indonesia.

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Credit: Manuel A. Staggl

A team of international researchers led by the University of Vienna investigated the development of shark and ray biodiversity over the past 100 million years. Their surprising results show a continuous decline in diversity since the Eocene, 45 million years ago, which contradicts previous assumptions that biodiversity was either stable or increasing. This study, recently published in the renowned journal Scientific Reports, provides crucial insights for modern marine conservation.

What can fossil sharks and rays tell us about today's biodiversity crisis? This was the question posed by Manuel A. Staggl and his team at the Institute of Palaeontology at the University of Vienna. "Cartilaginous fish, which include today's sharks and rays, have existed on our planet for over 400 million years. They have survived several mass extinction events during this time, yet today, over a third of neoselachians (i.e. modern sharks and rays) are at risk of extinction," explains Manuel Staggl. "To develop effective conservation measures, we must understand which environmental factors have influenced their diversity in the past."

Past insights reveal current threats

The researchers analysed extensive fossil data and compared it with historical environmental conditions, such as temperature, carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels, and habitat availability. The surprising results shed a completely new light on the evolutionary history of these successful marine Predators.

Dinosaur extinction was less drastic for sharks and rays than previously thought

Sharks and rays have proven to be particularly resilient in the face of past catastrophes. Perhaps the most astonishing finding is that the famous mass extinction that followed the asteroid impact 66 million years ago, which wiped out large dinosaurs and many other species, had only a minor impact on sharks and rays. "These animals proved to be amazingly resilient and recovered quickly from the catastrophe," explains early career scientist Staggl. The biodiversity of sharks and rays peaked later in the Eocene, around 45 million years ago, at a time when the climate was significantly warmer than it is today. Since then, their biodiversity has declined, and the study identifies several causes of this decline.

Shallow coastal areas are biodiversity hotspots

Habitat availability has proven to be a decisive factor in the evolution of new species of shark and ray over the past 66 million years. Shallow, species-rich coastal habitats have been particularly important in this regard. "The more diverse the shallow marine habitats, the more species emerged," explains Jürgen Kriwet, head of the Evolutionary Morphology Research Group at the Institute of Palaeontology. However, he adds that this is also a worrying trend, as these very habitats are now under severe threat from coastal development, global warming, pollution and unsustainable fishing.

The role of carbon dioxide (CO₂) proved to be more complex than previously assumed.  Surprisingly, the analyses showed that moderate CO₂ levels in the atmosphere tended to have a positive effect on the biodiversity of sharks and rays: "In simple terms, CO₂ promotes photosynthesis in algae and seagrass meadows. This has a positive effect on the entire food chain and ultimately on sharks and rays," explains Kriwet. However, if CO₂ levels rose too high, marine ecosystems as a whole would be damaged, as Staggl and his team had already shown in a previous study. "In a nutshell: moderate CO₂ levels were beneficial for shark and ray biodiversity in the past, but excessive levels were harmful. This highlights the danger posed by current ocean acidification caused by human-induced climate change," says Staggl.

Present-day changes leave species with no time to adapt

The current biodiversity crisis, which is caused by a combination of overfishing, habitat destruction, and rapid climate change, differs fundamentally from all previous threats. "In the past, sharks and rays had time to adapt to changes or migrate to other areas. However, the current changes are happening far too quickly. In this respect, the situation today is unprecedented," says Staggl.  Highly specialised species, such as deep-sea sharks which are adapted to stable cold environments, cannot keep pace with rapid changes and are therefore particularly vulnerable to warming according to the findings of Staggl and his team.

Overall, the findings provide important insights for effective conservation strategies: preserving and restoring diverse coastal habitats must be the top priority. At the same time, it is imperative to drastically reduce CO₂ emissions in order to limit ocean acidification. "Our study shows that marine conservation is not just about fishing quotas – we need to adopt a broader perspective that considers entire habitats and the climate system," concludes palaeobiologist Staggl.

Summary:

• An international research team led by the University of Vienna has investigated the development of shark and ray biodiversity over the past 100 million years.
• The surprising results show a continuous decline in diversity since the Eocene epoch 45 million years ago – contrary to the previous assumption of stable or even increasing biodiversity.
• One of the most astonishing findings: the famous mass extinction following the asteroid impact 66 million years ago, which wiped out the large dinosaurs and many other species, had only a minor impact on sharks and rays.
• The availability of habitats proved to be a decisive factor in the development of new shark and ray species over the past 66 million years. Flat, species-rich coastal habitats are particularly important in this regard – but these are precisely the habitats that are under threat today. 
• Overall, the findings provide important pointers for effective conservation strategies: preserving and restoring diverse coastal habitats and drastically reducing CO₂ emissions.

About the University of Vienna:
For over 650 years the University of Vienna has stood for education, research and innovation. Today, it is ranked among the top 100 and thus the top four per cent of all universities worldwide and is globally connected.
With degree programmes covering over 180 disciplines, and more than 10,000 employees we are one of the largest academic institutions in Europe. Here, people from a broad spectrum of disciplines come together to carry out research at the highest level and develop solutions for current and future challenges. Its students and graduates develop reflected and sustainable solutions to complex challenges using innovative spirit and curiosity.

Fig. 2: The young spotted eagle ray (Aetobatus narinari) visits a "cleaning Station" in the sun-drenched coral reef in the north of the Red Sea, where it is cleaned of parasites by cleaner fish.

Credit

Manuel A. Staggl

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Journal

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-025-25653-6 

Article Title

Global environmental drivers shape cenozoic neoselachian diversity and identify modern conservation priorities

Article Publication Date

20-Nov-2025

Oldest modern shark mega-predator swam off Australia during the age of dinosaurs

Swedish Museum of Natural History

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A gigantic 8 m long mega-predatory shark stalks an unwary long-necked plesiosaur in the seas off Australia 115 million years ago. 

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Credit: Polyanna von Knorring, Swedish Museum of Natural History

Around 115 million years ago, the seas off northern Australia were home to a gigantic ancestor of Jaws. Fossils of this ancient mega-predator reveal that modern sharks experimented with enormous body sizes much earlier in their evolutionary history than previously suspected, and took the top place in oceanic food chains alongside massive marine reptiles during the Age of Dinosaurs. This study presents a new interdisciplinary analysis to reconstruct size evolution in ancient sharks.   

Sharks are iconic predators in the oceans today, and can trace their ancestry back over 400 million years. However, the evolutionary history of modern shark lineages began during the Age of Dinosaurs, with the oldest known fossils dating from around 135 million years ago. Known as lamniforms, these early modern sharks were small, possibly only about 1 m long, but over time would give rise to giants, such as the famous ‘Megalodon’ that may have exceeded 17 m in length, and the living Great White shark, which is an apex-predator in today’s oceans and tops the scales at around 6 m.

Sharks have cartilaginous skeletons. Therefore, their fossil record is mostly represented by teeth, which sharks shed continuously as they feed. Shark teeth are subsequently very common in rocks that were laid down as sediment at the bottom of the sea, and occur alongside the teeth and bones of other animals, such as fishes and gigantic marine reptiles, which the dominant predators in most marine ecosystems during the Age of Dinosaurs.

The rocky coastline fringing the city of Darwin in far northern Australia was once mud from the floor of the ancient Tethys ocean, which stretched from the southern shores of Gondwana (now Australia) to the northern island archipelagos of Laurasia (now Europe). The remains of sea monsters, including plesiosaurs (long-necked marine reptile resembling the popular image of the Loch Ness monster), ichthyosaurs (‘fish-lizards’), and large bony fish have all been found. Yet most spectacularly, a handful of enormous vertebrae have turned up that reveal the presence of an unexpected predator — a gigantic lamniform shark.

The five recovered vertebrae were partially mineralised, which enabled their preservation, and are virtually identical to those of a modern Great White shark. However, whereas adult Great Whites have vertebrae that are around 8 cm in diameter, the vertebrae of the fossil lamniform from Darwin were over 12 cm across. They were also morphologically distinctive enough to identify them as belonging to a cardabiodontid — huge mega-predatory sharks that roamed the world’s oceans from about 100 million years ago. Significantly, however, the Darwin lamniform is some 15 million years older and had already clearly achieved the hallmark massive body-size of cardabiodontids.

To accurately estimate the size of this earliest modern shark mega-predator, and international team of interdisciplinary scientists was assembled, including palaeontologists and tomographic from the U.S.A. Sweden, and Australia, and ichthyologists from South Africa and the U.S.A.

The paper is published in the Nature portfolio journal Communications Biology. Ancient shark fossils from the Age of Dinosaurs are on public display at the Swedish Museum of Natural History.

 

Reference

Bazzi, M., Siversson, M., Wintner, S., Newbrey, M., Payne, J.L., Campione, N.E., Roberts, A.J., Natanson, L.J., Hall, S., Blake, T. & Kear, B.P., 2025. Early gigantic lamniform marks the onset of mega-body size in modern shark evolution. Communications Biology, 8(1):1499.

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115 million year old sea floor deposits exposed near Darwin in northern Australia. These rocks produce fossils of an ancient marine ecosystem that included the earliest modern shark mega-predator.

Credit

Benjamin Kear

115 million year old gigantic shark vertebrae

Credit

Mikael Siversson

Journal

Communications Biology

DOI

10.1038/s42003-025-08930-y 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Early gigantic lamniform marks the onset of mega-body size in modern shark evolution