Find new flying reptile fossils

British paleontologists said they have worked with international colleagues to identify fossil specimens of a newly discovered extinct flying reptile.

According to UPI, experts from the University of Southampton (UK) helped test 68 million-year-old fossil bone samples found in Romania and identified it as a new species, named Eurazhdarcho langendorfensis .

The newly discovered flying reptile shape

According to University of Southampton paleontologist Darren Nash, Eurazhdarcho belongs to the group of flying lizards called azhdarchids. Eurazhdarcho has a long, long neck with strong wings that make it easy to accelerate.

Its wing bone and posterior bone structure shows that it can fold the wings and go on all four limbs when needed.

UPI quoted scientists as saying, this is the first time in Europe that a fossilized skeleton of a lizard azhdarchids has been found to be quite adequate.

According to Nash expert, Eurazhdarcho species discovered in Romania has a wingspan of about 3 meters and, like previous discoveries, the ancient animals discovered in Romania are often unusually smaller in size than those of Similar species live in other areas.

It is known that the discovery was made by Southampton University researchers with colleagues from the Transylvanian Museum Society in Romania and the National Museum in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, and published in the journal title. Learn PLoS One.