December 19, 2003

BY ANDREW HERRMANN Staff Reporter

Famed Chicago dinosaur hunter Paul Sereno on Thursday unveiled his newest discovery: a 110 million-year-old flying beast with a 16-foot wingspan and that snared fish with nail-like teeth.

The new species of pterosaur, a cousin of dinosaurs, is still unnamed. But the discovery of a wing part and teeth in the African nation of Niger is significant, Sereno said, because it shows that flying reptiles populated that continent.

(AP) Paleontologist Paul Sereno displays a model of a 110 million-year-old flying reptile at the Garfield Park Conservatory on Thursday.

"This is a big step to understanding what was flying overhead of the dinosaurs,'' said Sereno, a University of Chicago paleontologist, who made the announcement in connection with the opening of a dinosaur exhibit at the Garfield Park Conservatory, 300 N. Central Park.

Researchers working under Sereno's direction found the bones at a southern Sahara desert spot that was once a riverbank. Calling the situation "a miracle preservation,'' Sereno said that "somehow, this pterosaur fell in and got buried instantaneously and never moved.''

Weighing about as much as a small dog -- maybe 25 pounds, said Sereno -- the pterosaur had a hairlike covering on its body and webbed feet. Clumsy on land, it had sharp hand claws on the front edge of its translucent wings, which probably helped it climb.

In hunting, the creature would stall at mid-flight to grab fish into its interlocking jaws. "This animal is really a toothy guy,'' he said.

After carefully removing the wing part from the sand, researchers brought it back to Chicago, where it was compared with species found in Brazil. At the time of the Sereno pterosaur's death, South America and Africa were just beginning to separate.

The wing piece "gave us a rare look at Africa's first pterosaur,'' said Sereno, adding that there are about hundred known species of pterosaurs.

The fossil wing as well as a life-size model of the pterosaur will be on display at the Garfield exhibit, along with re-created skeletons of eight African dinosaurs, nestled among the conservatory's thousands of indoor plants. The exhibit opens Saturday and runs through Sept. 6, 2004. Admission is $3.

Sereno, 46, is the co-founder of Project Exploration. The nonprofit group is renting the dinosaur display to the Chicago Park District for about $300,000, a fee underwritten by ComEd and Boeing.

The Park District hopes to make $1 million during the run of the exhibit, said parks Supt. David Doig.