The arm bone of the Syrian pterosaur was discovered between 2003 and 2004 at the Port of Latakia, Syria’s main maritime port, by local geologist Atieh Sokarieh, from the General Establishment of Geology and Mineral Resources in Damascus. The specimen was first examined by geologist Mohamad Jameel Ismail, one of the study’s coauthors, who was on an expedition to a phosphate mine with students from the University of Latakia.
“I obtained the fossil and recorded the location data. Then I tried to write a report on the nature of this fossil. At the time, I thought it was a dinosaur leg bone,” he told Jornal da USP.
According to Ismail, other Syrian scientists believed the fossil belonged to an aquatic reptile. “So I insisted on keeping it for future studies,” he said.
“Wafa worked very hard to clean the specimen and fully preserve all its features. Without her, her research team, and the Arab and foreign scientists, the lineage of the flying reptile would not have been confirmed. This discovery is of great importance for understanding the ancient environment and paleogeography,” explained Mohamad Jameel Ismail.
The international partnership between Syrian, Brazilian, Lebanese, and European scientists is expected to continue yielding results. According to the researchers, several fossils of animals that lived at the end of the dinosaur era have already been found and are under study. These new investigations promise to reveal unprecedented aspects of the prehistory of a region still largely unexplored by global science.
“The discovery of a giant pterosaur reveals the immense, yet still underexplored, paleontological potential of Middle Eastern countries such as Syria. Participating in studies like this is a privilege in a scientist’s career,” concludes Max Cardoso Langer, a USP researcher who contributed to the study.
The article Recovering lost time in Syria: a gigantic latest Cretaceous azhdarchid pterosaur from the Palmyrides mountain chain was published in the journal The Science of Nature and is available here.
Previous studies include: Recovering lost time in Syria: New Late Cretaceous (Coniacian-Santonian) elasmosaurid remains from the Palmyrides mountain chain and Recovering lost time in Syria: a new Eocene stereogenyin turtle from the Aleppo Plateau.
For more information: wafaadelalhalabi@gmail.com, with Wafa A. Alhalabi, and felipepinheiro@unipampa.edu.br, with Felipe L. Pinheiro
English version: Nexus Traduções, edited by Denis Pacheco
