Palaeontology: Species of pterosaur discovered in Argentina

Around 230 million years ago, some 80 million years before the advent of birds, pterosaurs were the first actively flying vertebrates to take to the skies. Earlier forms of these animals usually still had short wings and a long tail. In contrast, the later Pterodactyloidea were characterised by their long, slender wings and short tails. The pterosaurs owed their ability to actively flap their wings to a flight skin that was stretched by the greatly elongated fourth finger.

Over time, they perfected their flying technique so that this group not only dominated during the Cretaceous period, but also produced the largest flying animals in the history of the earth – including the impressive Quetzalcoatlus with wingspans of up to 12 metres. A remarkable discovery by Alexandra Fernandes and Prof. Oliver Rauhut from the Bavarian State Collection of Palaeontology and Geology (SNSB-BSPG) has now provided new insights: They have described a 178-million-year-old species of pterosaur from the Lower Jurassic of the Argentinian province of Chubut.

The new species, Melkamter pateko, already shows advanced characteristics of the Pterodactyloidea, but is about 15 million years older than the previously known representatives of this group. This indicates that the origin of the pterodactyloids extends further into the past than previously assumed. The location where Melkamter was found is also surprising: it comes from continental deposits, which indicates that this pterosaur lived far from the coasts. In contrast to most Jurassic pterosaurs, which lived near the sea and fed mainly on fish and marine animals, Melkamter’s diet probably consisted mainly of insects.

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Sladjan Lazic

Sladjan ist Triops-Züchter und Gründer von Triops Galaxy. Im Jahr 2020 hat er seine Leidenschaft für Urzeitkrebse entdeckt und züchtet seitdem diese faszinierenden Urzeitwesen in heimischer Zucht.

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