Fossils of new pterosaur species found in Romania’s dinosaur region

Fossils of a new type of pterosaur have been found in Romania. The winged reptile from the age of the dinosaurs was found in Sebeş-Glod in Romania’s Transylvanian Basin by a team of scientists from the University of Southampton, UK, the Transylvanian Museum Society in Romania and the Museau Nacional in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. The area is rich in fossils from the Cretaceous Period, some 145 – 66 million years ago, at the end of which, dinosaurs died out.

The new species is called Eurazhdarcho langendorfensis. «Eurazhdarcho belong to a group of pterosaurs called the azhdarchids. These were long-necked, long-beaked pterosaurs whose wings were strongly adapted for a soaring lifestyle. Several features of their wing and hind limb bones show that they could fold their wings up and walk on all fours when needed,» said Dr Darren Naish of the University of Southampton’s Vertebrate Palaeontology Research Group.

The new species of pterosaur lived around 68 million years ago and with a wing span of just under three meters was «large but not gigantic.» Although pterosaurs were contemporary with dinosaurs, they belonged to a different group of species. The newly found fossils are helping scientists settle arguments about how the how the animals lived, according to the University of Southampton.

The area where the pterosaur fossils were found is close to other fossil finds, which include the dwarf dinosaur eggs now exhibited in the Tara Hategului Dinosaur park. The medium size of the new species follows the pattern for fossils in the area, which seemed to be inhabited by dwarf or moderately sized sub-species during the era of the dinosaurs.

Adapted from Romania-insider