SCIENCE LAB SCREAM : CROCODILE'S LUNCH

PTEROSAUR on the menu : How this winged reptile became a crocodile's lunch.

Around 78 million years ago, something took a bite out of a young pterosaur.

Pterosaurs were large, flying reptiles that roamed our planet skies when dinosaurs ruled the Earth. Some species were giants. But even their large size didn't keep them off the menu.

Paleontologists have discovered a tooth mark in the neck vertebra of a pterosaur that died in what is now the Canadian province of Alberta.

In a paper to the The Journal of Paleontology, they suggest that the tooth mark was made by a prehistoric relative of the crocodile that either snatched the young pterosaur from the shore or scavenged its dead body.

The fossil is now on display at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta.

Pterosaurs came in all-shapes and sizes and were found worldwide during their tenure on the planet, which lasted from 220 million to 65 million years ago. But they had fragile bones that were often destroyed before being preserved in the fossil record.

Paleontologists mostly find neck and finger bones for this species, and that makes them '' quite mysterious, '' said David Hone, a paleontologist in London not involved in the research. [ Freda Krerier ]