Pterodactyls evolved their heads before their haunches, new fossils suggest.
Fossils of the flying reptiles, also known as pterosaurs, have so far fallen into two categories: primitive, long-tailed lizards and their gigantic, short-tailed descendants. Researchers had expected to find pterosaurs with medium-length tails and medium-sized bodies to fill the gap between the two.
The new creature, dubbed Darwinopterus (for “Darwin’s wing”), falls within the time gap but looks like it was Frankensteined together from parts of both its ancestors and descendants.