A police raid on Brazil has spawned one of the best-preserved pterosaur fossils ever discovered. According to law enforcement, the fossil comes from a 2013 police raid against a series of storage lockers that hid fossils and other archaeological relics. Under Brazilian law, fossils are considered part of the country’s natural geological history and are state-owned, so trade with them is strictly regulated and almost completely banned. According to CNet, the fossilized remains belong to a tapejarid, a toothless pterosaur from the early Cretaceous period that had a large crest (partially formed of soft tissue) on its head.
Apparently, the fossil had more than 90% of the skeleton in place, as well as some soft tissue around the bone, making it the best-preserved example of this type in the world.
“This fossil is special because it is the most complete pterosaur in Brazil and provides new information about the anatomy and ecology of this animal,” says Victor Beccari, co-author of a study on the finding published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One .
The 2013 attack in which the fossil was found recovered 3,000 specimens stored in storage units in three Brazilian states. After the raid, the specimens were transferred to the Institute of Geosciences of the University of São Paulo for study.
According to scientists, pterosaurs in general lived 228 million years ago and 66 million years ago. CNet’s history explains that this particular specimen originated in the Crato Formation in the Araripe Basin, a fossil-rich area in northeastern Brazil that dates back to a Cretaceous period about 115 million years ago. years.
The remains were preserved in six yellow slabs of limestone, which managed to preserve its 8-foot wingspan and almost its entire skeletal structure.