HAPPY #FossilFriday! Look at this GORGEOUS specimen! Allow me to gush. [LONG POST!]Anhanguera santan

HAPPY #FossilFriday! Look at this GORGEOUS specimen! Allow me to gush. [LONG POST!]Anhanguera santannae (AMNH22555) is one of the BEST preserved pterosaur fossils in the world and we have been lucky enough to have it at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History for the last several months.It is SO rare to get this quality of preservation in the fossil record.Why?Taphonomy: the study of what happens to an organism after death.You have to die in the right time in the right place and then lie undisturbed for millions (MILLIONS!) of years until a bipedal ape finds you, digs you up and tries to makes sense of you.Paleontologists really are superheroes when you think about it.This pterosaur and many other beautifully preserved three-dimensional fossils have been found in carbonate concretions in the Romualdo Member of the Santana Formation (Araripe Basin, northeastern Brazil). Some 25 species of fossil fishes have often been found with stomach contents preserved, helping paleontologists to better study predator–prey relationships. Pterosaurs, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, crocodylomorphs, plants, and even dinosaurs have been found here.Limestone accretions formed nodules around dead organisms, preserving soft and hard parts of their anatomy. These nodules are then taken to a lab and etched away with acid, revealing beautiful bone inside.The American Museum of Natural History (@amnh) creates traveling exhibitions of incredible quality (we’ve had several now!) and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for the future! 1-4: mine 5: Pinheiro 2017 from https://peerj.com/articles/3285/#pterosaurs #anhanguera #museum #naturalhistorymuseum #science #cle #fossil #fridayfeeling #notadinosaur #wearestemsquad #wearescience #scicomm #amnh #cleveland -- source link

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