Kunpengopterus antipollicatus may have looked like.
A pterosaur with a 3-foot wingspan clambered around trees using claws and an opposable thumb some 160 million years ago in what is now Liaoning, China, according to a study published today in Current Biology. It’s the first pterosaur and oldest known animal to appear to have this trait.
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Affectionately dubbed ‘Monkeydactyl’ for the unique forelimb morphology, the pterosaur its scientific name is
Kunpengopterus antipollicatus was one of three known genera of darwinopteran pterosaurs in the area. Darwinopteran pterosaurs were named after Darwin for their unique anatomies, which are transitional: They hint at the evolutionary shift from pterosaur precursors like the lagerpetids to the larger, more familiar flying pterosaurs.
A paleoart rendition of what Kunpengopterus antipollicatus may have looked like.
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A pterosaur with a 0.91 m wingspan clambered around trees using claws and an opposable thumb some 160 million years ago in what is now Liaoning, China, according to a study published today in Current Biology. It’s the first pterosaur and oldest known animal to appear to have this trait.
London, April 13
A team of international researchers has discovered the earliest-known example of an opposed thumb on a new tree-dwelling pterosaur species that lived in China 160 million years ago.
What had two thumbs and was wiggling them with abandon back in the Jurassic? According to a new paper published in the journal Current Biology, the “Monkeydactyl”. This new-to-science flying reptile species was described by an international team of researchers from China, Brazil, UK, Denmark, and Japan from a specimen recovered in the Tiaojishan Formation of Liaoning, China. The discovery of
Kunpengopterus antipollicatus, to use its given scientific name, is a pivotal one, representing the earliest known evidence of true opposed thumbs as well as being the first time this feature has been found in a pterosaur.
The researchers on the study state that Monkeydactyl, as it has been dubbed, was lurking in treetops approximately 160 million years ago, likely as an arboreal pterosaur alive in the Jurassic. It’s a small member of the darwinopteran pterosaurs (named after the naturalist for their unique morphology, which informed how evolution shaped pterosaur anatomy over time), wh
Fossils: Flying reptile from 60 million years ago has the oldest true opposed THUMB dailymail.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailymail.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.