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Student Roy Smith discovered fossils of the mysterious pterosaur after sifting through the collections at Cambridge’s Sedgwick Museum and Brighton’s Booth Museum, reports the BBC.
The collection of fossils he examined were collected in southern England between 1851 and 1900.
Mr Smith, who studies at the University of Portsmouth, said early researchers had overlooked key details.
“One of these features are tiny holes where nerves come to the surface and used for sensitive nutrition,” Smith said.
“Shark fin spines do not have these characteristics, but early paleontologists did not have these characteristics.
“Two of the specimens discovered can be identified as a pterosaur called Ornithostoma, but an additional specimen is clearly distinct and represents a new species – it’s a paleontological mystery.”
Mr. Smith said it would not be possible to name the new species because the specimen was too fragmented.
It was unlikely that further fossils would be found as the rock was no longer exposed, he said.
But Mr Smith said he will continue to search for more reptile remains in other museum collections when the UK lifted pandemic restrictions.
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