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Podcast: PNAS Science Sessions
Episode:

North America's oldest pterosaur fossil
Category: Science & Medicine
Duration: 00:10:40
Publish Date: 2025-08-18 13:00:00
Description:

A pterosaur and its ecosystem at the end of the Triassic

Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Learn the behind-the-scenes story of work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), plus a broad range of scientific news about discoveries that affect the world around us.

In this episode, Kay Behrensmeyer and Ben Kligman describe what a fossil bone bed in Arizona reveals about a 209-million-year-old pterosaur and its ecosystem.

In this episode, we cover: •[00:00] Introduction •[01:01] Paleoecologist Kay Behrensmeyer and paleontologist Ben Kligman describe the discovery of this fossil bone bed. •[03:10] Kligman and Behrensmeyer introduce a previously undescribed pterosaur. •[05:00] They talk about what this specimen says about the ecology and evolution of pterosaurs. •[06:15] Kligman and Behrensmeyer talk about the importance of studying this fossil community. •[07:52] They explain how their methods can improve paleontology and discovery of small fossils. •[09:08] Behrensmeyer and Kligman talk about the study’s caveats and limitations. •[10:10] Conclusion.

About Our Guests:

Kay Behrensmeyer Curator of Paleobiology National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Ben Kligman Postdoctoral Fellow National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

View related content here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2505513122

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