Pterodactyl fossil fills gap in evolutionary history
Scientists say rare to find about 20 pterosaur fossil has produced the first evidence of a controversial theory of evolution.
This is the skull of Darwinopterus, which measures 18.5 centimeters.
The fossils were found in northern China this year, which is embedded in the rocks 160 million years and were considered “Darwinopterus” after the famous naturalist Charles Darwin.
The creature’s discovery surprised scientists, because it depends on your age in both categories recognized pterodactyls – forms of primitive and advanced forms of the long tail short tail – and shows characteristics of both.
The combination of features indicates that the primitive pterodactyls developed quickly enough, and that some groups of functions at the same time changed.
The theory of evolution is a feature would be traditional – a queue, for example – to develop slowly over time.
“Darwinopterus was a shock for us,” says David Unwin of the University of Leicester’s School of Museum Studies, which identifies the nature, in collaboration with researchers from the Geological Institute of Beijing.
“We have always expected, a gap-filler, typical characteristics of an intermediary, like a tail of medium length – either short or long – but the strange thing is Darwinopterus has a head and neck so pterosaurs grew, while the rest of the skeleton is like a very long tail, similar to primitive forms,”he said.
By comparing fossils with other earlier and later periods, scientists have the opportunity to make a sketch of the sequence pterodactyl’s evolution.
“The head and neck develops first, followed by the body, tail, wings and legs,” says Unwin.
The researchers say that further studies are needed to the idea that evolution could give rise to occur relatively quickly and that all parts of a plant or an animal’s body could change everything at once.
Fossils show Darwinopterus was the size of a crow, with long jaws, sharp, sharp teeth and a flexible neck.
E ‘was “Hawk-like” say the notes, the academic world, what the nature of killing and eating little helped, feathered dinosaurs, which later developed into birds.
Pterodactyls were widely distributed in the Mesozoic Era between 220 and 65 million years.
The research was published in the directory “Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.”
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