Scientists ID new pterosaur species small enough to perch on person’s shoulder

• Researchers have identified a new species of pterosaur, Eotephradactylus mcintireae, which is the oldest known pterosaur in North America.
• The fossilised jawbone of the winged reptile, dating back 209 million years, was uncovered in 2011 by scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.
• The discovery was made at a remote bonebed in Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, where the jawbone was preserved in volcanic ash.
• The newly identified pterosaur was small enough to perch on a person’s shoulder and likely fed on fish, as indicated by its worn teeth.
• The site has yielded over 1,200 individual fossils, including those of an ancient turtle, suggesting rapid dispersal of turtles across Pangaea.

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New species of flying reptile that lived among dinosaurs 200 million years ago discovered