Pterosaurs are intrinsically terrifying creature , but a new find is more unusual than horrific . Although possession of at least 480teethshould probably make for nightmare fuel , the fact these resemble hair’s-breadth comb and were probably used to catch little crustacean reorientates the picture .
While the rest of us are meditate whether the flying reptilian would have been a threat were we suddenly transmit back to the late Jurassic , paleontologists are more focused on how well - preserved the discovery is .
Pterosaurbones had to be wanton to appropriate them to fly , which meant they seldomfossilizedwell ; in most cases , we have scrappy fraction of an animal . That ’s not lawful for the creature that has been namedBalaenognathus maeuseriin a new newspaper , where it has been identified as a member of the Ctenochasmatidae pterosaurs . The saving is so right a small helping of the wing membrane survived .
Balaenognathus maeuseri got a little scrambled up over more than 100 million years, but most of it survived, most of the ribs aside. Image Credit: Martill et al/Paläontologische Zeitschrift
“ The nearly complete skeleton was found in a very finely layered limestone that preserves fossils beautifully , ” saidProfessor David Martillof the University of Portsmouth in astatement .
“ The jaws of this pterosaur are really tenacious and lined with little mulct , hooklike tooth , with tiny infinite between them like a nit comb . The farsighted jaw is curved up like anavocetand at the end it burst out out like aspoonbill . There are no tooth at the ending of its mouth , but there are teeth all the way along both jaws correct to the back of its smile . ”
The preservation stand for we can see the diversity in the shape of the tooth , and Martillcontinued ; “ What ’s even more noteworthy is some of the teeth have a come-on on the end , which we ’ve never seen before in a pterosaur ever . ”
Close up of those jaws within the limestone. Image credit: Martill et al/Paläontologische Zeitschrift .CC-BY-SA-4.0
Martill believes theBalaenognathusfed on small shrimp in shallow wetlands and the hooks were used to sustain the crustacean in the sassing prior to immerse .
The team had no prospect of finding pterosaur bone when the find was made , instead opening a tumid limestone block that had crocodylomorph bone sticking out before it was quarried . Based on the conservation Martill believes ; “ It must have been buried in sediment almost as soon as it had died . ”
The Bavarian limestone in whichBalaenognathuswas retrieve has been a racy source of pterosaurs since 1784 when the order was first scientifically described .
Balaenognathus’stoothy smiling was top by Argentina’sPterodaustro , but those were brusk on the top and long on the low-pitched jaw , not symmetrical likeBalaenognathus .
The prospicient legs and shape of the beak are reminiscent of advanced spoonbills , and Martill and co - author thinkBalaenognathusfilled a similar niche , wading or swim through shallow lagoons and scooping up water to funnel out . Prey would have been trapped inside the rima oris for uptake . Unlike spoonbills , Balaenognathuswould have been ineffective to feed by pushing its bill through the water . Instead , it either relied on passive pause feeding in tight - flowing creeks or tidal channels , or a pumping mechanism like to some duck .
foreign asBalaenognathusmay look to our eyes , the authors place it as one of the closer member of the pterosaur syndicate to the originalPterodactylus .
Balaenognathusmeans “ whale rima oris ” , reflecting the similarity to the feeding scheme of baleen whales . The species name refers to dear co - author Matthias Mäuser , who perish before the paper was bring out . " Matthias was a friendly and warm - hearted colleague of a sort that can be hardly found . In rules of order to conserve his computer memory , we named the pterosaur in his honour , ” Martillsaid .
The study is published open entree in the journalPaläontologische Zeitschrift
