Oldest pteranodon found, according to ScienceDaily 1 March 2011. The bones of the left wing of a pteranodon have been found in Texas by an amateur fossil hunter and identified by Timothy Myers of Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Meyers estimates the creature had a wing span between 3.6 to 4 meters (12 to 13 feet). The bones showed signs of being broken when they were buried. Meyers described them: “We know it was disarticulated when it was buried because the bones weren’t preserved in correct anatomical position. Abrupt truncation of the broken end of one of the bones and infilling of the break with sediment also indicates that the breakage and disarticulation took place prior to burial”. He went on to say: “Any pterosaur material is fairly rare to find unless you have exceptional preservation conditions. They are frail, fragile bones, and they require rapid burial to be well preserved”. The fossil was found in rocks dated as 89 million years old, making it the oldest pteranodon in North America, and possibly the oldest in the world. A pteranodon of similar age has been found in England.
Pteranodons are large pterosaurs – flying reptiles. They are believed to have evolved as small toothed creatures about 200 million years ago and then evolved into large toothless creatures about 100 million years ago.
Editorial Comment: Pterosaurs, or flying reptiles, are some of the strangest creatures to have lived on earth. All known pterosaurs of any evolutionary age in the fossil record are of fully formed winged creatures, some with teeth and some without, but all distinctly different from any known fossil or living walking reptile. According to evolution they evolved from non-flying reptiles, but this belief is not based on fossil evidence of change and is held purely by faith. Their fossil record actually fits the Biblical history of the world much better, i.e. they were created as separate distinct kinds and reproduced after their kind until the world degenerated so much they could no longer survive. (Ref. pterodactyls, pterosaurus, palaeontology)
Evidence News 1 June 2011