A rare pterosaur subspecies along Angola's Atlantic coast has been found, with a wingspan that extends about 16 feet. The new genus and species were called Epapatelo otyikokolo by an international team that included two vertebrate paleontologists representing Southern Methodist University (SMU). The dinosaur-era flying reptile was discovered in the same area of Angola as massive marine mammal fossils presently exhibited at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.
As per member Michael J. Polcyn of the paleontologist team and, research fellow in the Huffington Department of Earth Sciences & senior research fellow, ISEM at SMU, pterosaur fossils from the Late Cretaceous is exceptionally uncommon in Sub-Saharan Africa, as Science Daily mentioned.
This discovery gives us a much better understanding of the ecological role of the creatures flying above the waves of Bentiaba on the west coast of Africa approximately 71.5 million years ago, Polcyn said.
Resembling Modern-day Seabirds
Paleontologist Louis L. Jacobs, an SMU educator of earth sciences and chairman of ISEM, an interdisciplinary academy at the university, also cooperated in the investigation. The team's discoveries were published in Diversity, a scientific publication.
Epapatelo otyikokolo is thought to exist as a fish-eating pterosaur that acted just like the enormous modern-day seabirds. Jacobs stated that they likely spent time flying above open-water environments and diving to feed, like gannets and brown pelicans do today. Epapatelo otyikokolo seems to have been a large bird with a wingspan of around 4.8 m, or over 16 ft.
However, additional fossil discoveries show that a number of the newly revealed pterosaur species may have been substantially bigger, according to Polcyn. Pterosaurs were magnificent beasts, with some subspecies having wingspans of about 35 feet.
The origin of the term "Epapatelo" is a derivation of the Angolan Nhaneca dialect term for "wing," while the species name "otyikokolo" means "lizard." The Nhaneca or Nyaneka tribe is an Indigenous tribe from Angola's Namibe Province, where the fossils were discovered.
Projecto PaleoAngola: Unearthing Angola's Geologically Rich Heritage
Jacobs and Polcyn formed the Projecto PaleoAngola collaboration with colleagues in Angola, Portugal, and the Netherlands to investigate and unearth Angola's rich geological heritage, creating the framework for the remains to be returned to the West African nation.
Beginning in 2005, this multinational team found and gathered the fourteen Epapatelo otyikokolo remains in Bentiaba, Angola. Bentiaba is situated on a stretch of Angolan shoreline that Jacobs refers to as a "museum in the earth" due to the abundance of specimens discovered in the limestone.
Phys stated that several of these relics are presently on exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History as part of the "Sea Monsters Unearthed" display, which had been co-produced with SMU. It comprises Cretaceous-era big aquatic reptiles such as mosasaurs, tortoises, and plesiosaurs.
Alexandra E. Fernandes from the Museu da Lourinhã, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, and The Bavarian State Collection for Paleontology and Geology was the study's primary author. Octávio Mateus da Universidade NOVA de Lisboa e Museu da Lourinhã; Brian Andreas of the University of Sheffield; Anne S. Schulp from the Naturalis Biodiversity Center and Utrecht University in the Netherlands; and Antonio Olmpio Gonçalves of Universidade Agostinho Neto in Angola are among the other co-authors.
RELATED ARTICLE: Largest Flying Reptile Had a Wingspan Larger Than a King-Size Bed, Fossil Discovered in Scotland
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