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Scientists have identified the fossilise stiff of a winged lizard unearthed in Chile’sAtacama Desertas a " flyingdragon " — the first of its kind to be discovered in the Southern Hemisphere .
The flying reptile , which soar the skies 160 million days ago , had a wingspread of 6.5 feet ( 2 meters ) ; a long , pointy tail end ; and outward - jutting teeth — characteristic that give theJurassic - era animate being its fearsome " dragon " sobriquet .
A similar fossil to the one discovered in the desert. Rhamphorhynchoids were small pterosaurs with long tails and fully-toothed beaks.
Although the exact genus and mintage of the winged lounge lizard are strange , scientists remember it is a penis of Rhamphorhynchinae , a subfamily of rhamphorhynchoids , which were one of the two major types of pterosaur ( alongside pterodactyloids ) .
associate : Photos of flying reptile : flight of steps in the age of dinosaurs
liken withpterodactyloids , such as the genus of pteranodons that included species with wingspans over 23 invertebrate foot ( 7 metre ) , Rhamphorhynchinae were on mediocre lowly , sported longer bottom and , instead of beaks , possessed fully toothed jaws , which they likely used to snatch Pisces and diminished marine mammals from the ocean . The discovery is the first time a member of the Rhamphorhynchinae subfamily has been see below the equator .
" This discovery was very exciting , " Jhonatan Alarcón , a University of Chile scientist who led the investigation , severalise Live Science in an e-mail translate from Spanish . " We ’re the first paleontologist to bring out the presence of the subfamily Rhamphorhynchinae in the Southern Hemisphere . Before this find , it was thought that these pterosaurs had not exist at these latitudes . "
Osvaldo Rojas , director of the Atacama Desert Museum of Natural History , discover the fossil in 2009 , Alarcón suppose . Rojas split undetermined a desert rock that intrigued him and found the long - fossilized bones of the ancient reptilian continue in spite of appearance . An analysis by Alarcón revealed that the ancient remains belong to an unidentified metal money in the Rhamphorhynchinae subfamily .
How the reptilian ’s remains ended up so far south , in northern Chile , resting atop the sands of the driest place on Earth , is open to speculation . For now , Alarcón allege , " We ca n’t say that this flying reptile is a migratory species , " but the uncovering does suggest that at least one member of Rhamphorhynchinae was disperse from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere .
When the ancient winged lounge lizard was active , most of the landmass of the Southern Hemisphere was part of a supercontinent calledGondwana , which form after the larger supercontinentPangaeacracked in two . Alarcón speculated that Chile ’s fly tartar could have drift southward from the northern supercontinent of Laurasia to Gondwana . Because some members of Rhamphorhynchinae have also been detect along the coast of modern - day Cuba , Chile ’s dragon could have followed the coast south .
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It " probably followed the coastline so that it did n’t get too far away from its food , " he said .
The researchers ' next steps will be to carefully elicit the final portion of the fogy that remain trapped inside the rock .
Then , they plan to make further comparing between their pterosaur and others in the same subfamily . They hope that by doing so , they ’ll be able to figure out if the flying reptile is a completely new mintage .
The finding were issue Sept. 6 in the journalActa Palaeontologica Polonica .
in the first place put out on Live Science .
