A Century After Its Discovery, Dinosaur's Evolutionary Links With Extinct Flying Reptiles Established

A fossil reptile from the Triassic Period (252 to 201 million years ago) has been revealed to be a close relative of pterosaurs, the flying reptiles at the age of dinosaurs, a new study reports.

Researchers have found anatomical new details that identify Scleromochlus taylori (top) as a close relative of pterosaurs (bottom)

Source : Gabriel Ugueto/University of Birmingham | mrganso/Pixabay

Scientists recently established the evolutionary links of a dinosaur discovered over 100 years ago. A fossil reptile from the Triassic Period (252 to 201 million years ago) has been revealed to be a close relative of pterosaurs, the flying reptiles at the age of dinosaurs, a new study reports. The study, led by Dr Davide Foffa, Research Associate at National Museums Scotland, and a Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham, was recently published in the journal Nature. 

The researchers, along with scientists at Virginia Tech, used computed tomography (CT) to provide the first accurate whole skeleton reconstruction of Scleromochlus taylori, the fossil which was first found over 100 years ago in the north east of Scotland. 

Scleromochlus taylori is a close relative of pterosaurs

The study authors have found anatomical new details that identify Scleromochlus taylori as a close relative of pterosaurs. Pterosaurs are part of a group called Pterosauromorpha, which also comprises an extinct group of reptiles called lagerpetids. These were small, wingless reptiles from which pterosaurs evolved. Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to evolve powered flight. 

Lagerpetids, which lived approximately 240 to 210 million years ago, were a group of active reptiles the size of a small dog. Scleromochlus taylori was less than 20 centimetres in length. Scientists have always hypothesised that the first flying reptiles evolved from small, likely bipedal ancestors, and the new study supports this hypothesis. 

Whether the reptile Scleromochlus taylori represented an evolutionary step in the direction of pterosaurs, dinosaurs or some other reptilian offshoot had been a century-long debate. 

What are the Elgin Reptiles?

It has been difficult to study the fossil of Scleromochlus taylori to identify its anatomical features because it is poorly preserved in a block of sandstone. The fossil belongs to a group known as the Elgin Reptiles. The group comprises Triassic and Permian specimens found in the sandstone of the Morayshire region of North east Scotland around the town of Elgin, the study states.

Scleromochlus taylori, which was originally found at Lossiemouth, Scotland, is held by the Natural History Museum. 

In a statement released by University of Birmingham, Dr Foffa said it is "amazing" to be able to see and understand an animal which lived 230 million years ago and its relationship with the first animals ever to have flown.

Professor Paul Barrett at the Natural History Museum said the Elgin Reptiles are not preserved as the pristune, complete skeletons that are often seen in museum displays, but are mainly represented by natural moulds of their bone in sandstone. Until fairly recently, the only way to study the Elgin Reptiles was to use wax or latex to fill the moulds and casts of bones that once occupied them, he added. 

Professor Barrett explained that the use of CT scanning has revolutionised the study of these difficult specimens and has enabled researchers to produce far more detailed, accurate and useful reconstructions of these animals from the deep past.