'Superbly preserved' pterosaur fossil unearthed in Scotland

Scientists said Tuesday that a 170-million-year-old pterosaur fossil has been found on the Isle of Skye in Scotland.

The National Museum of Scotland said the fossil of the pterosaur is the largest of its kind ever found. The museum said that the reptile had an estimated wingspan of more than 2.5 meters, similar to that of an albatross.

AmeliaPenny, a PhD student, discovered a pterosaur fossil during a field trip on the Isle of Skye in remote northwest Scotland. It will be added to the collection.

According to Natalia Jagielska, a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh, terosaurs preserved in such quality are extremely rare and are usually reserved to select rock formations in Brazil and China.

She said that an enormous superbly preserved pterosaur emerged from a tidal platform in Scotland.

The discovery was the best in Britain since the early 1800s, according to Steve Brusatte, a professor at Edinburgh University.

He said it took several days to cut the fossil from the rock.

The pterosaur, which has been given the Gaelic name Dearc sgiathanach, tells us that pterosaurs got larger much earlier than we thought, long before the Cretaceous period when they were competing with birds.

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