Vectidraco
Name:
Vectidraco
(Isle of Wight dragon).
Phonetic: Vec-te-dra-coe.
Named By: Darren Naish, Martin Simpson &
Gareth Dyke - 2013.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea, Azdarchoidea.
Species: V. daisymorrisae
(type).
Diet: Uncertain due to lack of remains but probably
a carnivore/piscivore.
Size: Uncertain due to lack of remains but
comparison to similar pterosaurs yields rough estimates of around
thirty-five centimetres body length and seventy-five centimetres for
wingspan.
Known locations: England, Isle of Wight -
Atherfield Formation, Chale Clay Member.
Time period: Aptian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial post cranial remains
of the left pelvis, right ischium, three sacral vertebrae and one
dorsal vertebra.
Although
named from only relatively few bones, the fossil remains of
Vectidraco are still enough to clearly identify
it as a new
distinct genus from other known pterosaur
genera. The fossils of
Vectidraco also show that in life the bones were
pneumatised, a
weight saving adaptation which meant that the bones of the living
animal were very light making flight much easier. One of the key
things about Vectidraco is its small size, which
for an azdarchoid
pterosaur is actually very small. A seventy-five centimetre wingspan
might sound large, but when you compare Vectidraco
to giants like
Quetzalcoatlus
and Hatzegopteryx
you can appreciate just how small this
pterosaur was. It is still uncertain if the remains represent an
adult or a sub adult with a little bit of growth left to go, but
nonetheless the discovery of Vectidraco indicates
that azdarchoids may
have been much more adaptable to environments than previous
discoveries have indicated.
Vectidraco
is named from a combination of the old Roman name for the Isle of Wight
and the Latin word for dragon, a word that is increasingly becoming
used in the naming of pterosaur genera. The species name V.
daisymorrisae has been named in honour of Daisy Morris who
first
discovered the fossil remains of Vectidraco in
2008 when she was
just four years old. The story of the discovery has now also been
written as a children’s story called Daisy and the Isle of Wight Dragon.
*Special note - Many news articles reporting upon the story have erroneously lead the story with ‘flying dinosaur’, but it must be remembered that Vectidraco is actually a pterosaur. While pterosaurs are reptiles, they are otherwise unrelated to dinosaurs.
Further reading
- A New Small-Bodied Azhdarchoid Pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous
of England and Its Implications for Pterosaur Anatomy, Diversity and
Phylogeny, Darren Naish, Martin Simpson & Gareth Dyke
- 2013.
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