Vasika
Udurawane
Writer
All pterosaurs were flying animals, and the largest ones, in theory, were able to cross the length and breadth of continents. They may even have flown across the rather small, newly-forming oceans of the Mesozoic. However, we now have a legitimate case for that rare transatlantic pterosaur. There have been a few rare occurrences but this is the first fossil of Cimoliopterus found outside of England. In general, Cimoliopterus is not known to the public, outside of the scientific community.
It is one of many toothed pterosaurs from the group Pteranodontoidea. They flew over the oceans like gigantic, narrow-winged albatrosses, picking fish from just off the water's surface and possibly diving for their food too. Most of the toothed pterosaurs lasted through the Early Cretaceous and went extinct when the period reached its middle during the global warming events of the Cretaceous Thermal Maximal roughly 90 million years ago. This was a mini-mass extinction brought on due to heightened volcanic activity around the world. Straight after, only the toothless ones were left to see the end of the Mesozoic.
The Early Cretaceous was almost like a heyday for all pterosaurs, with a wide variety of species living in numerous niches. Some of the best spots for pterosaurs during this period include Brazil and Eastern China, specifically Manchuria, where many types existed alongside one another. At this time the Atlantic Ocean was still a mere seaway, and still forming, opening up as the two former supercontinents of Gondwana (south) and Laurasia (north) split apart. This split allowed for different faunal populations be much more isolated than were earlier populations of animals and the north and south began to evolve their own distinct faunas.
