Pterodactyl fossil discovered on Europe’s dinosaur capital
A FOSSIL from a pterodactyl more commonly found in China and Brazil has been uncovered on the Isle of Wight.
The fragment of fossil bone was found by a fossil-hunter while walking his dog in Sandown Bay and passed to University of Portsmouth palaeontology student Megan Jacobs.
Her research has found the jaw bone belonged to a group of pterosaurs called tapejarids, which are better known in parts of the world like China and Brazil.
The new specimen from the Isle of Wight, which is more similar to the Chinese examples, has been named Wightia declivirostris.
Ms Jacobs said: “Although only a fragment of jaw, it has all the characteristic of a tapejarid jaw, including numerous tiny little holes that held minute sensory organs for detecting their food, and a downturned, finely pointed beak.
“Complete examples from Brazil and China show that they had large head crests, with the crest some times being twice as big as the skull.
“The crests were probably used in sexual display and may have been brightly coloured.”
Professor David Martill, co-author of the study which is published in the journal Cretaceous Research, said: “This new species adds to the diversity of dinosaurs and other prehistoric reptiles found on the island, which is now one of the most important places for cretaceous dinosaurs in the world.”