Fossilien No. 88
by Jonathan Blair - © Corbis. All Rights Reserved. - © Jonathan Blair/Corbis
Oldest Pterosaur Fossil
Bergamo, Italy --- Eudimorphon ranzii is the oldest known pterosaur, from the Middle to Upper Norian, in the Late Triassic. The fossil was discovered on a Cene limestone outcrop in northern Italy, in 1973. It had a wingspan of 1 meter, a thick tail, and rather short legs. The dentition design of the pterosaur's jaws make it likely that Eudimorphodon ate small fish and insects. Wing fingers and most of the hind legs are missing in the 220 million-year-old fossil. Pterosaurs, the first vertebrates to take to the skies, were thought to be cold-blooded, awkward gliders. Recent fossil evidence, however, shows possible hair-like structures much like the feathers of modern birds. Pterosaurs may have had a warm-blooded metabolism (also called endothermic, or heat generating). Paleontologists credit pterosaurs as agile fliers with uncommon airborne hunting abilities. Pterosaurs used a var --- Image by © Jonathan Blair/Corbis
