Discover new giant lizard species

A researcher at the University of Portsmouth has discovered a new flying lizard species, which is also the largest of all known. It is also a new species of flying lizard that once dominated the sky 115 million years ago.

This finding is important because it originates from Brazil and is the only example of Chaoyangopteridae, a group of flying lizards, found outside China and also the largest known lizard species. .

Mark Witton recognizes this animal from a skull fossil. He estimated that the animal had a 5-meter wingspan - bigger than a family car - and over a meter tall.

Mark Witton's illustration of the new flying lizard Lacusovagu, meaning 'wandering around the lake'. (Photo: University of Portsmouth)

He said: 'Some of their previous examples of this Chinese animal are only 60 cm long - as large as the new animal's skull. Simply put, this new animal makes any chaoyangopterid prove to be known as dwarfs. '

Witton named the new creature Lacusovagus, meaning 'wandering around the lake' . The findings are published in the November issue of Palaeontology.

He was also asked to look at a specimen located in a German museum for several years after being discovered at Crato Formation in the Araripe basin, northeastern Brazil, the area famous for fossils and conservation status. perfect.However, he said the fossil was preserved in a strange way, making it difficult to analyze.

Witton said: 'Finding such a fossil in Brazil - away from its nearest relative in China - is a testament to the limitations of our understanding of the distribution and evolutionary history of This group of animals'.