A new re-examination of fossil material housed in the Sedgwick Museum of Cambridge and the Booth Museum at Brighton has revealed the fossilized jaw fragments from a new Cretaceous-period azhdarchid pterosaur previously identified as shark fin spines and fish jaws. The fossils were actually fragments of jaws of toothless pterosaurs, which do indeed resemble shark fin spines, but there are many subtle differences that allow them to be distinguished. “One such feature is tiny little holes where nerves come to the surface and are used for sensitive feeding by the pterosaurs,” Smith said. “Unfortunately, this specimen is too fragmentary to be the basis for naming the new species,” Smith said. Edentulous pterosaurs from the Cambridge Greensand (Cretaceous) of eastern England with a review of Ornithostoma Seeley, 1871.

Source: The North Africa Journal November 11, 2020 18:45 UTC