Most complete pterosaur skeleton studied in Brazil
In Brazil, paleontologists examined the remains of a pterosaur that were seized from smugglers in 2013. Scientists have established that at the moment this is the first almost complete skeleton of a pterosaur, who lived about 110 million years ago, in the early Cretaceous period. The results of the scientists' work were reported in the PLOS ONE magazine.
In 2013, as part of a special operation in the largest port of Brazil, slabs of limestone were seized from smugglers, on which the prints of Tupandactylus navigans were preserved, taken from a quarry in the famous Araripe basin. The smugglers hid the stones in barrels and planned to take them out of the country. The police sent nearly three thousand slabs to the Institute of Geology of the University of São Paulo for study.
This specimen has survived on six square slabs. Experts have reunited parts of the limestone and studied the fossils using computed tomography.
Previously, this type of pterosaur was known only from skulls. On the removed slabs, distinguishable remains of soft tissues and a ridge on the reptile's head, five times the size of the skull, have been preserved. The fossils also have a large blade-shaped comb on the chin.
“I have seen many exceptionally well-preserved pterosaurs, both in Brazil and abroad, but specimens such as this one with preserved soft tissue are very rare. It's like winning the lottery, ”said paleontologist Fabiana Rodriguez Costa.
Despite the presence of wings, the span of which reached several meters, pterosaurs mostly hunted on the ground. Structural features, including a long neck and bulky crest, indicate that the reptile could only fly short distances to escape other predators.
Earlier, the remains of pterosaurs were first found near Ryazan. In the Maly Prolom quarry, the teeth of the raptor have been preserved – they are thin, long and slightly curved for capturing fish.
