A new species of giant flying reptile has been found in the sands of the Sahara, a new study says.
4 o% ]- ]- d' o% E, e But the 95-million-year-old pterosaur likely preferred life on the ground, spending most of its time stalking prey in what was once a lush wetland.
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. t7 i. i6 H" U' x The 95-million-year old Alanqa saharicafrom, discovered in 2008 in southeast Morocco, belonged to a pterosaur family that flourished some 70 million years ago.
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Jaw and neck bones of the newfound fossil identify it as the oldest known ancestor of the azhdarchids, a type of large pterosaur, said study leader Nizar Ibrahim of Ireland's University College Dublin.$ ?" o0 m7 K9 u$ L2 q+ U: i" A
, b) y/ }. b# w: i1 |/ H/ e A. saharicafrom had a toothless, beak-like jaw, a long, slender neck, and an estimated wingspan of 19.5 feet (6 meters), the study said.
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"That tells us that even these very early azhdarchids were already pretty big and had the same kind of body proportions [as later giant species]," Ibrahim said.6 b' M X0 u9 l X* a. q! J
N6 s! J/ i. _# d6 x `3 B/ g& c# i Recent research also suggests that azhdarchids such as A. saharicafrom didn't fly that much. For example A. saharicafrom may have hunted "lizards and little dinosaurs with their long, slender jaws," Ibrahim said—"a bit like a stork or a heron." |
发表于 2012-8-14 23:21:39
