About 150 million years ago, a pterosaur experienced an embarrassing mealtime mishap. Attempting to catch and eat a seafood snack, the flying reptile came away one tooth short. At least, that is the chain of events suggested by a fossil described earlier this week in Scientific Reports: a preserved cephalopod with a pterosaur tooth embedded inside of it. This “fossilized action snapshot” is the first evidence scientists have that these winged contemporaries of dinosaurs ate prehistoric squid, or at least tried, said Jean-Paul Billon Bruyat, an expert in prehistoric reptiles who was not involved in the research. The fossil also joins a small group of records that hint at the ecological relationships between ancient creatures.

Source: New York Times January 30, 2020 21:11 UTC