Palaeontology: Flying prehistoric reptiles expand to China

Two new flying reptile species have been discovered in northeastern China. The two pterosaur species belong to groups previously only found in Europe.

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VOL.437 NO.7060 DATED 06 OCTOBER 2005

* Palaeontology: Flying prehistoric reptiles expand to China

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[6] Palaeontology: Flying prehistoric reptiles expand to China (pp 875-879)

Two new flying reptile species have been discovered in northeastern China,
underlining once again this region's remarkable record in preserving the
remains of dinosaurs and their contemporaries. The two pterosaur species
belong to groups previously only found in Europe.
Palaeontologists led by Alexander Kellner unearthed the 120-million-year-old
remains at Jehol, in the west of Liaoning Province. In addition to the fish,
dinosaur and early bird species found here, the presence of the pterosaurs
makes this region one of the world's top spots for species diversity from
the Cretaceous period.
Reporting their findings in this week's Nature, the researchers also compare
the distributions of flying reptiles and early bird species found in this
area of China. They conclude that birds must have been largely confined to
inland areas, whereas pterosaurs dominated the coasts.
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Published: 05 Oct 2005

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