A new species of pterosaurs has been found on the Atlantic coast of Africa.
Two paleontologists from Southern Methodist University named a new species after it. There are fossils from large marine animals on display at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC.
Michael J. Polcyn is a research associate in the Huffington Department of Earth Sciences and senior research fellow at SMU.
The new discovery gives us a better understanding of the ecology of the creatures that flew above the waves of Bentiaba.
Louis L. Jacobs is a professor at SMU and the president of ISEM. The findings were published in a journal.
Large modern-day seabirds are thought to have behaved like fish-eating pterosaurs.
Jacobs said that they spent time flying above open-water environments and diving to feed. It was not a small animal and it had a wingspan of almost 16 feet.
Polcyn said that some of the newly identified pterosaur species could have been even larger. Some of the largest Pterosaurs had wingspans of over 30 feet.
The name "Epapatelo" is a translation of the word "wing" from the Nhaneca dialect of Angola. The fossils were found in the region where the Nyaneka people are from.
The lead author of the study was a researcher. The other co-authors are Octvio Mateus of the NOVA de Lisboa and Museu da Lourinh.
The Projecto PaleoAngola partnership was formed by Jacobs and Polcyn in order to explore and return the fossils to the West African nation. Over the course of 13 years, Jacobs, Polcyn, and Diana Vineyard worked with a small army of SMU students to prepare the fossils excavated by Projecto Paleo Angola.
The bones were discovered and collected by an international team. Many fossils have been found in the rocks of Bentiaba, which has been called a "Museum in the Ground" by Jacobs.
The fossils are on display at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. There are large marine reptiles from the Cretaceous Period.
There is more information about the Pterosaurs from the Late Dinosaurs of Angola. There is a DOI of 10.390/d14090741.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
