Largest Flying Reptile Had a Wingspan Larger Than a King-Size Bed, Fossil Discovered in Scotland

One of the earliest known reptiles is the pterosaur which evolved to fly during the Jurassic period. They are some of the largest flying creatures in history and finding their fossils always fascinate scientists.

USA Today reported that the most recent one is a 170-million-year-old pterosaur fossil that has a wingspan of an estimated more than 8.2 feet (2.5) meters, similar to an albatross, making it the largest one discovered from the Jurassic. The National Museum of Scotland said that the fossil of the pterosaur, also known as a pterodactyl, is the world's best-preserved skeleton of the winged reptile.

(Photo: China Photos/Getty Images)
Visitors view a fossil specimen of a pterosaur at the Geological Museum of China during an activity to mark World Earth Day on April 22, 2006, in Beijing, China.

Pterosaurs: Largest Flying Creatures in History

Pterosaurs were among the first animals to ever evolve for flight. Earlier fossils recovered implied that they are restricted to small body sizes from their Triassic origins with only up to 6 feet (1.8 meters) wingspan, although some of the last-surviving pterosaurs were the size of an airplane. But the new discovery debunks previous findings.

The bones of the newly-discovered fossil of this winged dinosaur reveal that it was young and was still growing when it died. Scientists estimated the wingspan to be larger than the king-sized bed. Study co-author Steve Brusatte from the University of Edinburgh told The Guardian that this pterosaur was by far the largest animal ever flown in history.

According to Phys.org, the fossils were discovered in 2017 by Ph.D. student Amelia Peny while on a field trip on the Isle of Skye, northwest of Scotland. She first saw the jaw protruding from rocks. The fossils collected have been added to the museum's collection.

University of Edinburgh Ph.D. student Natalia Jagielska, study co-author, said that the pterosaur fossils preserved in such quality are rare to find and are usually only seen in Brazil and China, making the discovery in Scotland one of a kind. Brusatte added that it was the best one found in the UK since the early 1800s when Mary Anning, a celebrated fossil hunter, discovered several significant Jurassic fossils on the southern coast of England.

He noted that the fossil bones of the pterosaur were "featherlight" and are "as thin as sheets of paper," adding that it took them many days to cut it from the rock.

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Pterosaurs Grew Larger to Beat Other Dinosaurs

The pterosaur's name was from the Gaelic name Dearc sgiathanach, which suggests that these winged dinosaurs grew larger than it was previously thought, even before the Cretaceous period when they started to compete with birds. Brusatte said that the new findings add hugely significant information about their species.

 As to why they grew this big, experts said it could be to beat their competition from other animals and dinosaurs. According to Live Science, they ate a wide variety of animals, including insects, and fish, depending on the location of their habitat.

Scientists hypothesized that birds likely evolved from dinosaurs during the time this pterosaur was living, which challenges the understanding of the species' history.

RELATED ARTICLE: Giant Pterosaur with Neck Longer Than Giraffes' Flew 100 Million Years Ago, Scientists Believe

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