Scientists Discover New Flying Reptile Species Bakiribu waridza in 100-Million-Year-Old Fossilised Vomit

Key facts

• Scientists have identified a new species of flying reptile named Bakiribu waridza from a 100-million-year-old regurgitalite, which is fossilised dinosaur vomit.
• The fossil was retrieved from the Romualdo Formation located in the Araripe basin of Northeast Brazil.
• The discovery, published in the journal Scientific Reports, marks the first time an extinct species has been described entirely from fossilised puke.
• Bakiribu waridza was a filter-feeding pterosaur that possessed several hundred long, needle-like teeth used to strain microorganisms from water, similar to modern-day flamingos.
• The fossilised regurgitate contained bones from two individuals of the pterosaur species along with four fossil fish.
• Researchers suggest the predator responsible for the vomit was likely a Spinosaurid dinosaur, a large predator that inhabited the Araripe basin 100 million years ago.
• The prey in the fossil showed a head-first alignment, a technique used by modern fish-eating birds to avoid choking on sharp fins.