Pterosaurs were flying animals that lived 150 million years ago, the period when dinosaurs inhabited Earth. Until now, the species that originated them had been a mystery. However, thanks to the work of a team of researchers from Argentina, Brazil, the United States, and Madagascar that has recently changed.

According to the findings published in the scientific magazine Nature in December, the ancestors of pterosaurs were the lagerpetids, a group of reptiles that inhabited Earth between 210 million and 237 million years ago.

To reach this conclusion, scientists analysed fossils of largerpetids found in Argentina, Brazil, the United States, and Madagascar. Using several techniques, such as computerized micro-tomography (technology that allows viewing samples in high resolution three-dimension), researchers noticed that the animals surveyed shared several similar physical traits with the pterosaurs, such as brains with like structures. Putting all the clues together, they discovered the kinship between the animals.

Now the challenge is to understand how lagerpetids, reptiles that could not fly, evolved to becoming pterosaurs, the first flying vertebrate animals on Earth.

Glossary

Vertebrate animals: species that, in most cases, have a spinal cord (a structure that, among other functions, is present in body movements) and a spine (a bone rod that supports the body’s weight and ensures proper posture, for example).

Questions

1) Which countries took part in the research?

a) Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, United States, and Madagascar

b) Argentina, Brazil, United States, and Madagascar

c) Brazil and the United States

d) Brazil, Argentina, United States, and Germany

2) Had you heard of the pterosaurs? If so, name three things you already knew about them.

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