OLDEST FOSSIL
Discovery By Two Boys
Copyright) NEW YORK, April 3. Two boys, one 17 and the other 18. digging in an abandoned quarry in New Jersey last Augu.t, uncovered the fossil remains of a gliding reptile which lived about 175 m. Ilion yerrs ago and is older than any previously known to science. The chairman of the department of verebrate paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York (Dr. Edwin Colbert) announced the discovery today.
“This early reptile, which antedates the earliest pterosaurs, or flying reptiles, may have been the first animal with a backbone ever to take to the air,” Dr. Colbert said. "ft’s elongated ribs served as the framework for membraneous ‘wings* on which it probably glided from branch to branch, somewhat in the manner of a flying squirrel."
Alfred Saeficer, the older of the boys, said: “As soon as I saw the fossil I knew it was of great value. Realising the advances that could be made in paleontology by this find, I wanted Dr. Colbert to study It.”
They were digging in the quarry as part of a project sponsored by the museum.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume C, Issue 29480, 5 April 1961, Page 9
Word Count
191OLDEST FOSSIL Press, Volume C, Issue 29480, 5 April 1961, Page 9
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