Pterosaur egg discovered

Female Darwinopterus with egg (Lu et al., 2011)

Scientists working in China have discovered a female Pterosaur fossil alongside its egg. 

The researchers believe the 3-foot long flying reptilian was caught in a storm which may have broken here wing and washed her into a lake where she died, with the pressure of the mud expelling her egg.

David Unwin (University of Leicester) whose analysis of the fossil was published in Science yesterday describes it as a "tragedy" for the pterosaur, but that the find could answer some important questions about differences in gender in the pterosaur.

The 160 million years old fossil was identified as a Darwinopterus, a type of pterosaur (flying reptile) which lived in the middle of the Jurassic.

The egg appears to have been soft, inficating it would have been buried and left after laying rather than tended to constantly like a bird's egg.

The bird lacks a bony headcrest and Unwin believes that this, along with an enlarged pelvis are defining characteristics of a female pterosaur.

Unlike dinosaurs, whose features are preserved in modern day birds, pterosaurs were an 'evolutionary dead end'.

Footprints prove reptiles were first to conquer dry land

The tracks were left by reptiles living 500 kilometres
from the nearest seashore

Reptile footprints which are 318 million years old have given scientists a new insight into the evolution of life on land.


The footprints were discovered in rock slabs broken away from sea cliffs at the Bay of Fundy in New Brinswick, Canada prove that reptiles were the first vertrebates (animals with a backbone) to leave the swampy coasts and make their homes on dry land.

The footprints were discovered by Howard Falcon-Lang of University of London during a trek along the coast in 2008.

"It's a very significant event in the history of life," Falcon-Lang said in an interview.

"About 400 million years ago, animals with backbones started to come on land, but these were frog-like creatures. And amphibians such as frogs have to return to the water in order to breed. They lay soft eggs that very easily dry out."

But Falcon-Lang said when the reptiles came along, they laid eggs with hard shells that they could lay on land, and could therefore start moving away from the shore.

The scientist said that he had actually been looking for something when he tripped over, scrapped his knee and came face-to-face with the small footprints (about 4 cm long) which were likely made by a reptile approximately 20 cm long and resembling a gecko.

"It really is that extraordinary," Falcon-Lang said. "You're capturing an event that probably just took a few minutes."