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Paleontologists at the University of Leicester have actually analyzed the 150-million-year-old fossilized skeletons of 2 extremely immature Pterodactylus antiquus people with damaged wings from the Solnhofen Limestones of southern Germany. Their findings demonstrate how these animals were unfortunately overruled by effective Jurassic storms that likewise developed the perfect conditions to protect them and hundreds more fossils like them.
An artist’s impression of a small Pterodactylus antiquus hatchling resisting a raving hurricane, motivated by fossil discoveries. Image credit: Rudolf Hima.
“The Late Jurassic Solnhofen limestone deposits of Bavaria, southern Germany, dating to 153-148 million years earlier, are renowned for their remarkably maintained fossils, consisting of numerous specimens of pterosaurs, the flying reptiles of the Mesozoic,”stated University of Leicester paleontologist Rab Smyth and coworkers.
“Yet here lies a secret: while Solnhofen has actually yielded numerous pterosaur fossils, almost all are really little, extremely young people, completely protected.”
“By contrast, bigger, adult pterosaurs are seldom discovered, and when they are, they’re represented just by pieces (typically separated skulls or limbs).”
“This pattern runs counter to expectations: bigger, more robust animals ought to stand a much better possibility of fossilization than fragile juveniles.”
In the brand-new research study, the authors evaluated the fossilized skeletons of 2 immature pterosaurs from the Solnhofen Limestones.
The 2 people come from Pterodactylus antiquusa types of pterosaur that resided in what is now Germany throughout the Kimmeridgian age of the Late Jurassic date.
With wingspans of less than 20 cm (8 inches), these hatchlings are amongst the tiniest of all understood pterosaurs.
Both reveal the very same uncommon injury: a tidy, inclined fracture to the humerus.
Neonatal examples of Pterodactylus antiquus from the Solnhofen Limestones, Germany. Scale bars– 20 mm. Image credit: Smyth et aldoi: 10.1016/ j.cub.2025.08.006.
The left wing of one person and the extreme right of another were both broken in a manner in which recommends an effective twisting force, likely the outcome of effective gusts of wind instead of a crash with a difficult surface area.
Catastrophically hurt, the pterosaurs plunged into the surface area of the lagoon, drowning in the storm driven waves and rapidly sinking to the seabed where they were quickly buried by really great limy muds stimulated by the death storms.
This fast burial permitted the exceptional conservation seen in their fossils.
Like the 2 studied pterosaurs, which were just a few days or weeks old when they passed away, there are numerous other little, extremely young pterosaurs in the Solnhofen Limestones, protected in the very same method, however without apparent proof of skeletal injury.
Not able to withstand the strength of storms these young pterosaurs were likewise flung into the lagoon.
This discovery discusses why smaller sized fossils are so well protected– they were a direct outcome of storms– a typical cause of death for pterosaurs that resided in the area.
“For centuries, researchers thought that the Solnhofen lagoon communities were controlled by little pterosaurs,” Dr. Smyth stated.
“But we now understand this view is deeply prejudiced. A number of these pterosaurs weren’t belonging to the lagoon at all.”
“Most are unskilled juveniles that were most likely living on neighboring islands that were sadly captured up in effective storms.”
A paper on the findings was released today in the journal Existing Biology
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Robert S.H. Smyth et alDeadly mishaps in neonatal pterosaurs and selective tasting in the Solnhofen fossil assemblage. Present Biologyreleased online September 5, 2025; doi: 10.1016/ j.cub.2025.08.006
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