From the collection of the owner ℱof the Solnhofer Plattenwerk Victor Henle Quarry, Mörnshꦺeim, Eichstätt District, Bavaria, Germany

Jura Museum, Willibaldsburg Castl💯e, Eichstätt, Germany

AN E🔴XTREMELY RARE AND REMARKABLY WELL-PRESERVED PTERODACTYL FOSSIL IN ITS NATURAL CO🌃NDITION

Pterodactyls ("winged finger") were the first pterosaur to be discovered, a group that encompasses all ancient flying reptiles. Close relatives of the dinosaurs, they branche🉐d off from a shared ancestor about 230 million years ago, independently following their own evolutionary path. About 80 million years before birds appeared, pterosaurs evolved into the first vertebrates capable of powered flight, and gained air superiority over the feathered dinosaurs and birds♓ during the Mesozoic Era before going extinct approximately 66 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous Period.

The paleontological history of pterosaurs began with the identification of a Pterodactylus fossil much like this one from Solnhofen, Germany in 1784. The fossil record indicates that pterosaurs were covered in hair-like filaments that insulated their bodi🅘es against the cold, providing strong evidence that these animals were warm-blooded. In addition, pterosaurs had hollow bones containing air sacs that formed part of their respiratory system. Although their hollow bones made them lightweight and helped pterosaurs become the dominant flying animals during their time, they also made fossilization extremely rare. As a result, fewer than three dozen pterodactyl fossil specimens have ever been recovered.

A magnificent characteristic of these extremely well-preserved positive and neg🧸ative fossil plates is the presence of iron and manganese dendrites encircling much of the skeleton. A feature of some fossils from Solnh𒊎ofen, these fractal-like crystals appear when mineral-rich water fills in microscopic cracks in the limestone and then evaporates, leaving the metallic solids behind.