Moscow. April 13. INTERFAX.RU – An international group of researchers from China, Brazil, Great Britain, Denmark and Japan has described a new species of pterosaur (flying dinosaur) Kunpengopterus antipollicatus, which was discovered in the Tianjishan formation in China, according to the University of Birmingham.
“A new species of arboreal pterosaurs with an age of 160 million years, dubbed the 'monkey finger', has the oldest truly opposed thumb – a new structure previously unknown in pterosaurs,” the message says. The estimated wingspan of the raptor is 85 cm.
It is noted that the opposed thumb is mainly present in mammals (eg primates) and some tree frogs, but is extremely rare in modern reptiles, with the exception of chameleons.
The research team scanned the K. antipollicatus fossil using microcomputer tomography. By studying the morphology of its forelimbs and musculature, scientists suggested that K. antipollicatus could use its hand to grab, which is probably an adaptation to life in a tree.
According to paleontologists, K. antipollicatus lived in trees and competed minimally with other pterosaurs, for example, Darwinopterus.
