Fossil of ancient Jurassic period’s largest flying reptile unearthed in Scotland

 

The discovery and study of Jurassic period’s largest Pterosaur or flying reptile fossil had plenty of twists and turns. Discovered by a graduate student, Amelia Penny at Brothers’ Point, who was looking for dinosaur bones during low tide on Isle of Skye, Scotland in 2017, its excavation involved use of saw with diamond tips and it was nearly lost when the tide returned, mentions a report in sciencealert.com.

This find of a lifetime was studied thoroughly and its anatomy revealed it to be an unknown species. Christened Dearc sgiathanach, a Scottish Gaelic name, it has double meaning -- “winged reptile" and "reptile from Skye” – since the Gaelic name of Skye means "the winged isle".

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This species had a wingspan measuring more than eight feet – a big size for a Jurassic period (201.3 million to 145 million years ago) pterosaur.

Sharing details about this species in a statement, Steve Brusatte, a University of Edinburgh professor and personal chair of palaeontology and evolution and senior researcher of the study said: “Dearc is the biggest pterosaur we know from the Jurassic period, and that tells us that pterosaurs got larger much earlier than we thought, long before the Cretaceous period, when they were competing with birds – and that's hugely significant.”

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