Lacusovagus: Newly Discovered Species of Flying Reptile

Posted on December 4, 2008

The BBC reports that Mark Witton, a University of Portsmouth researcher, has identified a new species of pterosaur. The flying dinosaur named Lacusovagus had the wingspan of a car. It also had a particularly wide skull.

Mark Witton estimated that the pterosaur had a wingspan of 16.4ft (5m) and would have been more than 39in (1m) tall at the shoulder.
The partial skull fossil, found in Brazil, is the first example of a chaoyangopteridae, a group of toothless pterosaurs, to be found outside China.
Mr Witton said: "Some of the previous examples we have from this family in China are just 60cm (2ft) long - as big as the skull of the new species.
"Put simply, it dwarfs any chaoyangopterid we've seen before by miles."

Lacusovagus means lake wanderer - the specimen was found in a large body of water. Mark Witton has posted a photograph of Lacusovagus and written a detailed description of the newly discovered beast here on Flickr. Love the headline he used: "You're dirty, sweet and you're my girl."

DINOSAURS
PTEROSAURS