 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| . |  |
. |
Scientists find flying reptile an odd duck
Portsmouth, England (UPI) Oct 14, 2009 Fossils of a flying reptile found in China reveal a strangely disjointed creature, British paleontologists say. "It's as if someone said, 'Let's nail these two together and make a sort of chimera, that'll really confuse everybody,'" said Dave Unwin of the University of Leicester in England. This version of pterodactyl appears so strange it conjures up the image of an old second-rate movie about prehistoric monsters for Mark Whitton of England's University off Portsmouth. "Fire up the B-movietron!" Whitton exclaimed in talking about the 20 fossils discovered in northeastern China this year that have heads and necks like an advanced, short-tailed pterosaur, but otherwise have skeletons similar to more primitive forms, Nature.com reported online Wednesday. The species was christened Darwinopterus in honor of British naturalist Charles Darwin, who was born 200 years ago and whose seminal book "On the Origin of Species" was published 150 years ago. The crow-sized pterosaur lived between 220 million and 65 million years ago. The scientists believe the creature's head and neck evolved first, followed later by the body, tail, wings and legs. It seems natural selection was acting on and changing entire modules and not, as would normally be expected, just single features such as the shape of the snout or the form of a tooth. This supports the controversial idea of a relatively rapid "modular" form of evolution," Unwin said. Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Explore The Early Earth at TerraDaily.com
Huge dinosaur find in China may include new species: state mediaBeijing (AFP) Oct 14, 2009 Paleontologists in east China may have discovered the remains of a new species of dinosaur at what is said to be the world's largest group of fossilised dinosaur bones, state media said Wednesday. Scientists in Zhucheng city, Shandong province, have for months been exploring a gully over 500 metres (1,650 feet) long and 26 metres deep that is strewn with thousands of dinosaur bones, the Jilu ... read more |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2009 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook