Saturday, October 10, 2015

October unleashed. Feilongus

 The only known example of the pterosaur Feilongus is incomplete and has been damaged in the fossilisation process.‭ ‬Only the skull,‭ ‬mandible and parts of the braincase are preserved.‭ ‬What can be gleamed from the fossil is that Feilongus had a large overbite with the upper jaw extended up to‭ ‬2.7‭ ‬centimetres beyond the tip of the lower jaw.‭ ‬The teeth were needle like,‭ ‬sharp and confined to the front third of the jaws.‭
       There were also two crests,‭ ‬with one in the middle of the snout rising up by a small amount,‭ ‬taking up roughly a third of the length in skull proportion.‭ ‬The second rose from the back of the head‭ ‬in a short and rounded fashion.‭ ‬It has been speculated that it may have been the support for a larger crest that had not been preserved,‭ ‬either through removal or inability to fossilise because of soft tissue.
       The top of the skull of Feilongus is curved in a concave manner,‭ ‬resulting in a thin snout that steadily rises up in thickness towards the eyes.‭ ‬It is also thought that the holotype specimen is actually of a sub adult.

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