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During the dinosaur era , pterosaurs would swoop down and snap up wriggly fish and buzzing insects with their spiky tooth , with the exception of one odd group — flying reptile that ate their meal like modern - day flamingo do : by filter feeding .
Now , researchers have found the earliest filter - feeding pterosaur on platter . The specimen , which was detect in northeastChina ’s Liaoning province , is 160 million years former , and date to theJurassic period(199.6 million to 145.5 million year ago ) , according to a new subject area .
The skull of the newfound speciesLiaodactylus primus, the earliest filter-feeding pterosaur on record.
" The fossil specimen represents a medium - sized pterosaur with a big number of fine teeth indicative of filter - feeding adaptation , " say the study ’s atomic number 27 - investigator Ke - Qin Gao , a professor at the School of Earth and Space Sciences at Peking University in China . [ pic of Pterosaurs : trajectory in the Age of dinosaur ]
research worker named the fresh name pterosaurLiaodactylus primus — respect the Liaoning state by combining it with the suffix " dactylos , " the Greek word for " finger , " or " wing fingerbreadth , " which is ordinarily used for pterosaur name calling . The species name " primus " is Latin for " first , " an indication of the pterosaur ’s early eld in the pterodactyloid group , the researcher say .
The flying reptile ’s jaw was almost 50 percent of its close to 5 - inch - long ( 13.3 centimeter ) skull , the researchers tell . Its wingspan was potential about 3.2 feet ( 1 meter ) , or slightly smaller than the wingspan of a enceinte horned owl ( Bubo virginianus ) , Gao said .
The newfound pterosaur species was uncovered at the Daxishan site in China’s Liaoning province, an area famous for its well-preserved fossils of dinosaurs with feathers. The pterosaur was discovered in rock that’s about 160 million years old.
Despite its low size , L. primusis a bountiful finding , because it helps researcher find out more about whenfilter - feeding pterosaursdeveloped , Gao said .
" The newfangled flying reptile brand a major ecologic transition in pterosaur evolution from Pisces the Fishes - catch or louse - eating to sink in - feeding adaptation , " Gao order Live Science in an e-mail . " This critical modulation was followed by a burst of bionomic diversification of pterosaurs , which had a meaning impact on the modification of the telluric ecosystems of the Cretaceous world . "
Although pterosaurs dwell during the dinosaur age , cognize as the Mesozoic era , they were not dinosaurs themselves . Rather , pterosaur were flying reptiles — the first flying vertebrates on record , the research worker said .
Pterosaurs ab initio come out about 215 million years ago during the Triassic point , and go extinct when a 6 - mile - all-embracing ( 10 kilometer ) asteroid slam dance into Earth about 65 million year ago , ending the Cretaceous period . The first do it flying reptile was discovered in the 1760s in Germany , and now there are more than 110 pterosaur species sleep with worldwide , the researchers wrote in the study , include apterosaur with 110 teeththat was unearthed in Utah and acat - size of it pterosaurdiscovered in British Columbia , Canada .
All of these pterosaur eat on a variety of different meals . During the Cretaceous , pterosaurs " engaged in a variety of feeding adaptations , including filter - feed in , Pisces - feeding , carnivory and scavenging , herbivory let in frugivory , mollusk shell - crushing and omnivory , " the investigator wrote in the study .
The fresh subject area was published online Wednesday ( Feb. 1 ) in thejournal Royal Society Open Science .
Original clause onLive scientific discipline .
