In the late Jurassic period 160 million years ago, what did pterosaurs, the air overlords on earth, eat?
What are the characteristics of food?
This ancient mystery was solved by the newly discovered and confirmed pterosaur food group fossils by Chinese scientists for the first time.
Associate researcher Jiang Shunxing and others from Wang Xiaolin's research team at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Institute of Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences) cooperated with Linyi University and others to study the "Chinese Kunpeng Pterosaur" collected from the stratum about 160 million years ago in western Liaoning. In-depth study of the two fossil specimens led to the first discovery and confirmation that the mass aggregates co-preserved with the Chinese Kunpeng Pterosaur fossils were the food mass spit out by the pterosaurs after eating.
Based on the food residues in the food group, the research team speculates that the Chinese Kunpeng Pterosaurs at different ages mainly fed on an extinct ancient cod fish in the Yanliao biota.
This important research paper on pterosaurs has recently been published in the special issue of Chinese paleontology in the international professional academic journal "Proceedings of the Royal Society of Natural Sciences, Series B".
On February 16, Jiang Shunxing, the first author and co-corresponding author of the paper, accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Agency in Beijing to popularize the latest research results of the 160 million-year-old Kunpeng pterosaur fossils in China, as well as the relationship between pterosaurs and dinosaurs.
(Reporter Sun Zifa produced Xu Miaoqiao)
Responsible editor: [Wang Shanshan]