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'Flying dragon' fossil found preserved inside a rock in the Chilean desert - Livescience.com

'Flying dragon' fossil found preserved inside a rock in the Chilean desert - Livescience.com

'Flying dragon' fossil found preserved inside a rock in the Chilean desert - Livescience.com
Sep 17, 2021 1 min, 2 secs

Scientists have identified the fossilized remains of a winged lizard unearthed in Chile’s Atacama Desert as a "flying dragon" — the first of its kind to be discovered in the Southern Hemisphere.

Although the exact genus and species of the winged lizard are unknown, scientists think it is a member of Rhamphorhynchinae, a subfamily of rhamphorhynchoids, which were one of the two major types of pterosaurs (alongside pterodactyloids).

The discovery is the first time a member of the Rhamphorhynchinae subfamily has been found below the equator.

"We're the first paleontologists to reveal the presence of the subfamily Rhamphorhynchinae in the Southern Hemisphere.

An analysis by Alarcón revealed that the ancient remains belonged to an unknown species in the Rhamphorhynchinae subfamily.

For now, Alarcón said, "We can't say that this pterosaur is a migratory species," but the discovery does suggest that at least one member of Rhamphorhynchinae was dispersed from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere. .

When the ancient winged lizard was alive, most of the landmass of the Southern Hemisphere was part of a supercontinent called Gondwana, which formed after the larger supercontinent Pangaea cracked in two.

—Photos: Ancient pterosaur eggs and fossils uncovered in China.

based staff writer at Live Science.

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