Encontrado fóssil de Pterodon de 89 milhões de anos

quinta-feira, março 03, 2011

Rare 89-Million-Year-Old Flying Reptile Fossil from Texas May Be World's Oldest Pteranodon

ScienceDaily (Mar. 1, 2011) — Fossilized bones discovered in Texas from a flying reptile that died 89 million years ago may be the earliest occurrence of the prehistoric creature known as Pteranodon.




Fossilized bones discovered in Texas from a flying reptile that died 89 million years ago may be the earliest occurrence of the prehistoric creature known as Pteranodon. (Credit: Image courtesy of Southern Methodist University)

Previously, Pteranodon bones have been found in Kansas, South Dakota and Wyoming in the Niobrara and Pierre geological formations. This likely Pteranodon specimen is the first of its kind found in Texas, according to paleontologist Timothy S. Myers at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, who identified the reptile. The specimen was discovered north of Dallas by an amateur fossil hunter who found various bones belonging to the left wing.

Pteranodon was a type of pterosaur that lived about the same time as some dinosaurs, about 100 million to 65 million years ago. The only reptiles to dominate the ancient skies, pterosaurs had broad leathery wings and slim torsos.

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Journal of Paleontology 84(6):1071-1081. 2010 
doi: 10.1666/09-082.1

Earliest Occurrence of the Pteranodontidae (Archosauria: Pterosauria) in North America: New Material from the Austin Group of Texas

Timothy S. Myers

Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275, USA smyers@smu.edu

Abstract

Remains of a pteranodontid pterosaur are recorded in the basal Austin Group of North Texas. The specimen described here comprises a partial left wing and strongly resembles Pteranodon although diagnostic features of that genus are lacking. With an estimated early Coniacian age, this specimen represents the earliest occurrence of the Pteranodontidae in North America and the second earliest occurrence worldwide, predated only by Ornithostoma from the Cambridge Greensand of England. Pterosaur material recovered from the Eagle Ford and Austin groups of Texas records an early Late Cretaceous change in the composition of North American pterosaur communities between the late Cenomanian and the early Coniacian. This faunal transition appears to be primarily a decrease in morphological disparity rather than a significant reduction in taxonomic diversity. However, the lack of Early Cretaceous Lagerstätten in North America may produce underestimates of true pterosaur richness during this interval, thereby obscuring a subsequent drop in diversity.

Accepted: June 8, 2010

Keywords: Pterosauria, Late Cretaceous, diversity

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