Remains of new species of giant flying lizard found in century-old museum collection
The remains of a new species of prehistoric giant flying lizard have been found among a 100-year-old museum collection in the UK.
Student Roy Smith discovered fossils of the mystery pterosaur after scouring collections at the Sedgwick Museum of Cambridge and Brighton's Booth Museum, reports the BBC.
Mr Smith, 26, realised that what were believed to be the fossils of shark spines were in fact pieces of jaws belonging to the extinct toothless reptile.
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An artist's impression of a prehistoric giant flying lizard, known as a pterosaur. (Megan Jacobs, University of Portsmouth) Supplied
The collection of fossils he examined were collected in southern England between 1851 and 1900.
Mr Smith, who studies at the University of Portsmouth, said earlier researchers had overlooked key details.
"One such feature are tiny little holes where nerves come to the surface and used for sensitive feeding," Mr Smith said.
"Shark fin spines do not have these, but the early palaeontologists missed these features.
"Two of the specimens discovered can be identified as a pterosaur called Ornithostoma, but one additional specimen is clearly distinct and represents a new species - it is a paleontological mystery."
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Some of the collections in the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences in Cambridge, England. (Sedgwick Museum) Supplied
Mr Smith said the new species would be unable to be named because the specimen was too fragmented.
It was unlikely any further fossils would be found as the rock was no longer exposed, he said.
But Mr Smith said he would continue searching for more remains of the reptile in other museum collections when the UK lifted pandemic restrictions.
The have been published in The Proceedings of the Geologists' Association.
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