Still no new croc stuff from me (but I got something in the works), so instead more general paleonews. Today, a new pterosaur ancestor and it looks WEIRD.
This is Venetoraptor gassenae (Gassen's Plunderer from Vale Veneto) is a new lagerpetid literally just published a couple of minutes ago. According to its description (and as seen in the image) it had a toothless premaxilla that was hooked like the beak of a raptorial bird. It may have been covered in keratin, which is interesting as the skulls of early pterosaurs appear to have been smooth. The hands are obviously enormous and the size differences between the fingers are well in line with what pterosaurs would later have (i.e. the fourth finger is the longest, the fifth is reduced in Venetoraptor and absent in pterosaurs), but the legs are still much longer. The claws are described as sharp and scythe-like and again, its interesting that the fourth is the longest, as in other lagerpetids its usually the third that exceeds all others in length. Interesting connection between Veneto and pterosaurs for sure.
In terms of relationships it was found to be nested deep in lagerpetids, which, expectedly are recovered as the sister group to pterosaurs.
It seems to represent a whole new ecomorph not previously known from this group and interestingly coexisted not just with the related Ixalerpeton, but also with some early dinosaurs like Buriolestes. The beak is also interesting. Similar beaks have evolved multiple times in Triassic archosaurs and the hooked tip in particular is common even in modern birds, tho the authors argue that we know too little to say what precisely it was used for. Could be used for ripping flesh (like in falcons) or for eating fruit (like in parrots, fun fact, falcons and parrots are close relatives). As for the hand, the authors suggest that a big driver for ornithodirans playing around with them as the fact that they were not forced to be quadrupedal, so they could be more experimental, leading to hands fit for grasping, climbing and eventually flight.
Also for all those aware of the issues surrounding Brazilian fossils, rest assured, the fossil is being kept at the Centro de Apoio à Pesquisa Paleontológica da Quarta Colônia da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, so it is in Brazil. The authors are primarily Brazilian (including the lead author Rodrigo Müller) and Argentinian, with two from the USA. Linke: New reptile shows dinosaurs and pterosaurs evolved among diverse precursors | Nature
