Fossil of pterosaurs’ forerunners unearthed in Brazil
Scientists from the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) have discovered a fossil in São João do Polêsine, Rio Grande do Sul state, belonging to a precursor of the pterosaurs, an extinct clade of flying reptiles. “But this animal couldn’t fly,” Rodrigo Temp Müller, a paleontologist at the Quarta Colônia Paleontological Research Support Center (Cappa) and leader of the research group, told Agência Brasil on Wednesday (Aug. 16).
The discovery was published in the August 16 edition of the scientific journal Nature, which, according to Müller, represents a remarkable achievement for Brazilian science. “Very few studies from Brazil have been published in [Nature], the most important journal in the academic world.”
Also found in the same location were fossils of primitive dinosaurs, relatives of crocodiles with dermal plates, other precursors of pterosaurs, and herbivorous reptiles called rincosaurs.
Little had been known about the anatomy of these animals, Müller noted, especially their skulls and hands. “this new material brings a lot of new information,” he added. The researchers found it had a raptorial beak, reminiscent of today’s birds of prey, “which is totally unexpected in those animals.” Its hands are proportionally large, with well-developed claws. The claws could have been used to climb trees or handle prey.
The paleontologist pointed out this is the best preserved fossil of an ancestor of the pterosaurs. “It’s a momentous fossil because it shows where the pterosaurs originated from. Before this, we had no idea what they looked like. Now we can catch a glimpse of it.”
According to the experts, dinosaurs and pterosaurs are some of the most popular fossil organisms. They dominated the Earth during the Mesozoic Era for some 165 million years and became extinct 66 million years ago following the impact of a huge asteroid.
Morphology
Combining the data from this fossil with other forerunners of pterosaurs and dinosaurs from other parts of the world, Müller said that paleontologists were able to gauge the morphological diversity of these forerunners.
“When we quantified [its diversity], we noticed it was higher than that of the dinosaurs from the Triassic period and on a par with that of the pterosaurs. It’s interesting because it shows that the idea that primitive forms were simple, not very complex, falls apart, because we see that in fact there was a great diversity when these animals were appearing, which we hadn’t known about until now.”
Replicas of the fossil, named Venetoraptor gassenae, will be made for display in the Brazilian, US, and Argentinian institutions taking part in the study. Venetoraptor means the raptor of Vale Vêneto, in reference to a tourist town called Vale Vêneto, in the municipality of São João do Polêsine. The name gassenae pays homage to Valserina Maria Bulegon Gassen, one of the main researchers responsible for creating the university’s research center.
Importance
Venetoraptor gassenae is the only of its kind in the world, even though it has close relatives elsewhere—like in Argentina and the US—but they are not so well preserved. A large portion of their skeleton cannot be seen, Müller pointed out. The researchers will further work at the site to see if they can find more individuals of the same species or other parts of its skeleton.
This precursor of the pterosaur is believed to have been one meter long and weighed four to eight kilos. Scientists discovered that the animal was flightless by studying the anatomy of its forelimb, which could not have supported a membrane, or leather.
According to the paleontologist, the discovery reinforces the idea that Brazil has been capable of making cutting-edge science, just like developed countries. “It’s important to show that, in the midst of everything, Brazil manages to do research. Hence the importance of funding research here in the country.”
