Pterosaur: new species of flying reptile1 discovered in Scotland 苏格兰斯凯岛发现新翼龙物种
考古学家们在苏格兰斯凯岛发现了一个新的翼龙物种。这种独特的飞行爬行动物生活在1.68 – 1.66亿年前。
This flying reptile soared over the heads of dinosaurs2 when Scotland was part of a sub-tropical island in the Middle Jurassic period. Scientists found its wings, shoulders, leg and backbone embedded in limestone3 rock on a beach. Only the skull4 was missing. To protect it, the fragile fossil was transported from Skye in the researchers' backpacks.
在侏罗纪中期，当时苏格兰仍是亚热带岛屿的一部分，这种飞行爬行动物就曾在恐龙头顶上空飞翔。科学家们在一片海滩上的石灰岩中发现了它的翅膀、肩膀、腿部和脊骨部分的化石。只有头骨不见踪影。为了保护它们，这些脆弱的化石被装进研究人员的背包中进行运输。
This creature is called Ceoptera meaning mist in Scottish Gaelic. Fossils from this era are extremely rare, and the discovery changes what's known about the flying reptiles5. Experts now believe they lived much earlier and had a global distribution. It had been thought that they mostly lived in China. The fossil was found in 2006, but it took years of painstaking work to extract it from the hard rock for classification.
这种新发现的翼龙被命名为 “雾翼龙（Ceoptera）”，在苏格兰盖尔语中指 “薄雾”。侏罗纪中期时代的化石极其罕见，这一发现改变了人们对该时期飞行爬行动物的认识。专家们现在认为，翼龙生活的时期比预想得更早，而且它们曾遍布全球各地。早前人们一直认为翼龙大多生活在中国。尽管这些化石于2006年被发现，但考古学家们在经过多年的辛勤工作后才得以将化石从坚硬的岩石中提取出来以对其进行分类。
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