Researchers have discovered the oldest fossil of a pterodactyloid, the group that includes the largest-known flying animals. The finding suggests that the ancient reptiles that gave rise to these creatures originated on land, rather than in marine environments.

The pterodactyloids evolved from smaller pterosaurs, the remains of which have been found predominantly in ancient seas. A team led by Brian Andres, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, analysed a roughly 163-million-year-old fossil from northwest China. They conclude that the animal, which had a 1.4-metre wingspan, is the earliest known pterodactyloid, on the basis of features such as an elongated metacarpus wing bone.

By comparing the new species — which the team has provisionally named Kryptodrakon progenitor — with its relatives and with modern flying vertebrates, the authors suggest that the creature's ancestors evolved primarily on land.

Curr. Biol. http://doi.org/sjf (2014)