Scientists in Brazil unveil flying reptiles from 90 million years ago

A flying reptile whose head was topped with a big bony crest shaped like the sail of a yacht swooped through the skies over Brazil roughly 90 million years ago.

Scientists have announced the remarkable discovery of about 50 fossilised skeletons of Caiuajara dobruskii, a type of flying reptile known as a pterosaur that lived alongside the dinosaurs, at a site in southern Brazil.

These pterosaurs, whose wingspans measured up to nearly 2.35 metres, inhabited a lakeside oasis in a large desert region during the Cretaceous period, living in vibrant colonies with others of the same species of all ages.

"This helps us to have a glimpse on the anatomical variation achieved by this species from young to old," said Alexander Kellner, a palaeontologist with Brazil's National Museum at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, who led the study.

Many pterosaurs boasted elaborate and sometimes large head crests. Caiuajara's head was topped with a big triangular crest that looked like "a bony sail", said Kellner. "It looks bizarre."

There is no indication that the crest was limited to either sex, but Kellner said: "The size of the crest was small in young animals and very large in older ones."