The jawbone of a new type of pterodactyl has been discovered in Texas. It has been named Aetodactylus halli. It would have soured over the large inland sea that was covering that part of the world in the mid Cretaceous. The jawbone is 95 million years old and is 38cm long with only 2 of the 54 teeth remaining in place. The jaw is thin and delicate with a maximum thickness of about 1cm. The discovery is important, as little evidence of pterosaurs has been seen in North America.

Pterosaurs were the flying equivalent of the dinosaurs. They first evolved in the late Triassic and became extinct at the same time as the dinosaurs did. This fossil was originally discovered in 2006 by a member of the Dallas Palaeontological Society and has only recently been scientifically identified and named by Timothy Myers. Aetodactylus would have had a wingspan of about 3 metres.