New find sheds new light on Pterosaur evolution

A new fossil uncovered in Germany, bridges the gap between the primitive small pterosaurs and their giant descendents. 

Skiphosoura bavarica was a pterosaur that lived in Germany towards the end of the Jurassic Period, at a time when much of Western Europe was a patchwork of islands separated by a warm sea. This find is significant because of its 1.75m wingspan; making it one of the largest Jurassic Pterosaurs to be discovered. The fossil is also exquisitely preserved with the bones remaining three dimensional unlike most of Pterosaur bones which tend to be flattened. 

Coupled with the fact that several features of the fossil show a transition between more primitive pterosaur species and much later flying giants. 

As lead author of its paper, David Hone, puts it: “[it] rings other pterosaur finds we had already made into focus.” 

Pterosaurs, more commonly known as Pterodactyls, were a group of flying reptiles that lived at the same time as dinosaurs. They ranged from being small enough to fit in a human’s hand to being almost as big as a small plane.