The winged reptile, Eotephradactylus mcintireae lived at the same time as dinosaurs and were the first vertebrates to fly.
Researchers with the Smithsonian have discovered a seagull-sized pterosaur in the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. The winged reptile, Eotephradactylus mcintireae lived at the same time as dinosaurs and were the first vertebrates to fly. The researchers discovered a jawbone of the species alongside other fossils including what they say is one of the world’s oldest turtle fossils. They date to the late Triassic period which was around 209 million years ago. This is the same time the researchers say older groups of animals such as giant amphibians and armored relatives of crocodiles lived at the same time as frogs, turtles and pterosaurs.
“The site captures the transition to more modern terrestrial vertebrate communities where we start seeing groups that thrive later in the Mesozoic living alongside these older animals that don’t make it past the Triassic,” paleontologist Ben Kligman, lead researcher said in a press release put out by the Smithsonian. “Fossil beds like these enable us to establish that all of these animals actually lived together.”
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The pterosaur is one of the oldest species found outside Europe. Its teeth were still in the jawbone, which made the animal easier to identify, the researchers said. The tips of the teeth were worn down. The team determined the reptile fed on fish, many which were armored, which could explain the wear on the pterosaur’s teeth. The name Eotephradactylus mcintireae means ash-winged dawn goddess, which is in reference to the site’s volcanic ash as well as the position off the animal on the evolutionary tree of the pterosaur. mcintireae is named after the person who discovered the fossil, Suzanne McIntire.
The researchers also describe what they say is the oldest known turtle species. The turtle had spike-like armor and a shell that the researchers say can fit inside a shoebox. It lived around the same time as the oldest known turtle,. which was uncovered in Germany. “This suggests that turtles rapidly dispersed across Pangaea, which is surprising for an animal that is not very large and is likely walking at a slow pace,” Kligman said.
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An abstract of the research article, “Unusual bone bed reveals a vertebrate community with pterosaurs and turtles in equatorial Pangaea before the end-Triassic extinction,” can be read on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences website.
