A big, new species of flying reptile from Scotland / Curr. Biol., Feb. 22, 2022 (Vol. 32, Issue 6)

Jagielska and coauthors present a new species of pterosaur from the Isle of Skye in Scotland: Dearc sgiathanach (“jark ski-an-ack”). The exquisitely preserved skeleton, with a wingspan of more than 2.5 m, is the largest of a middle Jurassic pterosaur, revealing that this lineage reached larger sizes earlier than once thought. Nonetheless, the skeleton is from a subadult individual, and it still had room to grow before its untimely death. Instead of a quiet prelude to their Cretaceous radiation, the Middle Jurassic was likely a key interval in pterosaur evolution.

Check out the paper at http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(22)00135-X.

N. Jagielska, M. O’Sullivan, G.F. Funston, I.B. Butler, T.J. Challands, N.D.L. Clark, N.C. Fraser, A. Penny, D.A. Ross, M. Wilkinson, and S.L. Brusatte (2022). A skeleton from the Middle Jurassic of Scotland illuminates an earlier origin of large pterosaurs. Curr. Biol. 32.

And read more great research at http://www.cell.com/current-biology/home.

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