Researchers have found fragments of the earliest known pterodactyloid, which existed on Earth some 163 million years ago, or longer than anyone previously believed.
The ancient winged creatures had short tails, long necks and skulls, according to a recently released study.
"The pterodactyloid is the earliest, oldest and most primitive member of a group that would become huge. It would take over the skies. It would become the largest flying organism of all time," said Brian Andres, lead author of the study and paleontologist at the University of South Florida, according to a university press release.
Pterosaurs first appeared in the fossil record around 228 million years ago. Just about all of the discovered pterosaurs had short skulls, long tails, and small necks and hands.
At some point during the Jurassic period, pterosaurs went through a "body plan reorganization," which caused the creation of more advanced pterodactyloids, according to the study.
The more advanced pterodactyloids appeared some 60 million years later, according to the study.
"In paleontology, we love to find the earliest members of any group because we can look at them and figure out what they had that made the group so successful," Andres said.
In 2001, a team that included Andres, George Washington University biology professor James Clark, and Xu Xing of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, found pterodactyloid fossil remains in mud pits located in northwest China, according to the release.
Andres named their finding the Kryptodrakon progenitor, in reference to the popular movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," which was filmed near the dig site.
Clark, also a co-author of the study, said Fossil fragments of Kryptodrakon progenitor stretched the fossil record by over five million years.
"The pterodactyloids, when they appear, they're completely different from all of the other primitive groups. It's as different as night and day," Andres said. "The entire body changes."
Kryptodrakon progenitor's wingspan is about 4.5 feet, according to the study. Only bits and pieces were found over 10 years ago, including a shoulder, wing bones, and a pelvis. A whole skeleton has not been discovered yet.
Pterodactyloids died out with the dinosaurs some 66 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous Period during the K-T mass extinction, according to the study.
Pterosaurs are closely related to dinosaurs, but they're not technically classified as a dinosaur. They are two distinct groups with separate evolutionary histories, despite sharing common ancestors.
Andres hopes the fossil record is expanded beyond broad terms sometime in the near future.
Research was published on April 24 in the journal Current Biology.
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