Restoration of an Australian pterosaur. Scientists have actually confirmed that pterosaur bones found in Australia over 30 years earlier are the earliest of their kind, dating back to 107 million years earlier. 107-million-year-old pterosaur bones, the oldest of their kind, have been verified by researchers in Australia, as reported in Historical Biology. The fossils, discovered over three years back, belonged to two distinct people, one of which was a juvenile– a very first for Australia.
Restoration of an Australian pterosaur. Researchers have validated that pterosaur bones found in Australia over 30 years back are the earliest of their kind, dating back to 107 million years earlier. Credit: Peter Trusler
107-million-year-old pterosaur bones, the oldest of their kind, have been validated by scientists in Australia, as reported in Historical Biology. The fossils, discovered over 3 decades back, belonged to 2 distinct individuals, among which was a juvenile– a first for Australia. The findings enhance our understanding of these animals adaptation to severe environments and raise questions about their breeding routines.
A team of researchers has validated that 107-million-year-old pterosaur bones found more than 30 years back are the earliest of their kind ever found in Australia, providing an uncommon peek into the life of these powerful, flying reptiles that lived among the dinosaurs.
Published in the journal Historical Biology and finished in collaboration with Museums Victoria, the research evaluated a partial hips bone and a little wing bone discovered by a team led by Museums Victoria Research Institutes Senior Curator of Vertebrate Palaeontology Dr. Tom Rich and Professor Pat Vickers-Rich at Dinosaur Cove in Victoria, Australia in the late 1980s.
The team found the bones belonged to 2 different pterosaur people. The partial pelvis bone belonged to a pterosaur with a wingspan surpassing 2 meters, and the small wing bone came from a juvenile pterosaur– the first ever reported in Australia.
Lead researcher and PhD trainee Adele Pentland, from Curtins School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said pterosaurs– which were close cousins of the dinosaurs– were winged reptiles that skyrocketed through the skies during the Mesozoic Era.
” During the Cretaceous Period (145– 66 million years ago), Australia was more south than it is today, and the state of Victoria was within the polar circle– covered in darkness for weeks on end during the winter season. In spite of these seasonally harsh conditions, it is clear that pterosaurs found a method to prosper and survive,” Ms. Pentland stated.
” Pterosaurs are uncommon around the world, and just a few remains have actually been found at what were high palaeolatitude places, such as Victoria, so these bones give us a better concept as to where pterosaurs lived and how huge they were.
” By examining these bones, we have actually also been able to confirm the existence of the very first Australian juvenile pterosaur, which lived in the Victorian forests around 107 million years earlier.”
Ms. Pentland stated that although the bones provide important insights about pterosaurs, little is understood about whether they reproduced in these extreme polar conditions.
” It will just be a matter of time till we are able to determine whether pterosaurs moved north throughout the harsh winters to breed, or whether they adjusted to polar conditions. Discovering the response to this concern will assist scientists better comprehend these strange flying reptiles,” Ms Pentland said.
Dr Tom Rich, from Museums Victoria Research Institute, said it was fantastic to see the fruits of research coming out of the hard work of Dinosaur Cove which was finished decades back.
” These 2 fossils were the outcome of a labor-intensive effort by more than 100 volunteers over a decade,” Dr. Rich stated.
” That effort involved excavating more than 60 meters of tunnel where the two fossils were found in a seaside cliff at Dinosaur Cove.”
Recommendation: “Oldest pterosaur remains from Australia: proof from the Lower Cretaceous (lower Albian) Eumeralla Formation of Victoria” 30 May 2023, Historical Biology.DOI: 10.1080/ 08912963.2023.2201827.
The research was co-authored by scientists from Curtins School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History, Monash University, and Museums Victoria Research Institute.
