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Published: 2021-02-10 23:30:41 +0000 UTC; Views: 8999; Favourites: 133; Downloads: 6
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Description
The genus Teshageria was one of a handful of Paleogene African Pterosaurs represented by more than a single piece of fossilized bone. Recovered from a single specimen, discovered at the Late Oligocene Ethiopian Chilga site, the animal was a terrestrial stalking carnivore with an estimated wingspan of roughly 6m. It was a member of the clade Arambourgianoidea and specifically belonged to the family Stymphalidae with the Eocene North African genus Bennu being a close relative of Teshageria. Stymphalids were generally rather tall, lightly built and long beaked predators that are presumed to have fed on a variety of small animals. Potential prey items would have included lizards, snakes, mammals such as Gondwanatheres and perhaps also hatchling dinosaurs. Indeed, the open savannah woodlands of Oligocene East Africa would have provided ample foraging grounds for this lanky carnivore, inhabiting a niche somewhat like that of an oversized Marabou Stork. T. kamyri is known from a single specimen consisting of cervical vertebrae and a damaged left femur with tooth marks suggestive of scavenging by Cenodromaeosaurs. In life, the pterosaur stood about 7 feet tall which is rather small by the standards of its family, some genera of which possessed wingspans of 11m or more and equalled the largest Cretaceous Pterosaurs in terms of size.Related content
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IDIOROPHUZ [2021-02-12 21:50:25 +0000 UTC]
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