120 Million-year-old Reptile Fossils Found
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120 million year-old reptile fossils found
Palaeontologists have uncovered the remains of tgwo new flying reptile species that shared the skies with early birds 120 million years ago in what is now china. The two species,FEilongus youngi and Nurhachius ignaciobritoi,belong to a family of flying reptiles known as pterosaurs. Both were discovered in Liaoning, a northeasetern province of China famous for yielding fossils of birdlife dinosaurs. Feilongus had two crests atop its head running form front to back, one along its foot-long snout and another on the back on its head. It had a slight overbite and its teeth were curved and needle-shaped,while that of Nurhachius were pointed and triangular. Both species had wingspans of about 8 feet and belonged to groups previouslyu found only in Europe. Pterosaurs were distant relatives of dinosaurs and ruled the skies for millions of years before birds. The members of their order ranged fromthat of sparrow sized Pterodactyls to Quetzalcoatlus, the largest flying creature of all time with a wingspan of up to 400 feet. Some pterosaurs flew by flapping their wings like modern birds. Others, like Feilongus and Nurhachicus,used their thin wings of stretched skin to ride the wind like kites. Many pterosaurs were covered in hair similar to that of mammals. Overall,15 species of pterosaurs have been discovered in liaoning,including three that have yet to be described. The discovery of many more bird-like species in the region suggests that early birds were more diverse and outnumbered the pterosaurs. The distributin of the fossils also suggests different environments. ?On the coastal areas Pterosaur predominate and birds were exceedingly rare,?said Alexander Kellner,a paleontologists from the Federal University in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. ?Now in the continent,despite the presence of pterosaurs,birds weremore numerous and diverse,?Kellner told Livescience. The hills of Liaoning are also famous for their bounty of feathered dinosaur fossils that many scientists believe are strong evidence that birds evolved from dinosaurs.
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