What began as an ordinary excavation trip for Amelia Penny, ended up becoming a historic Jurassic Park moment. The University of Edinburgh’s PhD student unearthed a pterosaur fossil during a trip to the Isle of Skye, Scotland. The discovery is said to be the best-preserved skeleton of a pterosaur found in Scotland, experts say.
The gigantic flying predator lived around 170 million years ago. Popularly known as a pterodactyl, the species had an estimated wingspan of over 2.5 metres. The species has been given the Gaelic name Dearc sgiathanach (pronounced jark ski-an-ach), which translates as ‘winged reptile’ and also references the Isle of Skye, whose Gaelic name means ‘the winged isle.’
The pterodactyl will now be part of National Museum Scotland’s collection for further study.
Image: Stewart Attwood/The University of Edinburgh
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Image: Natalia Jagielska
Image: The pterosaur was recovered by the PalAlba research team, spotted by then PhD student @AmeliaMPenny, sticking out its tide-eroded toothy skull out of thick Lealt Shale limestone. It was cut out, racing the tide, using diamond-tipped saws in 2017. @WryCritic/Twitter
Images: Natalia Jagielska/@WryCritic