From what the researchers were able to gather, the new species of pterosaur—dubbed Eotephradactylus mcintireae after Suzanne McIntire, the FossiLab volunteer who discovered it—was small enough to comfortably perch on a person's shoulder. It likely fed on the site's fish.

The 209-million-year-old fossil offers clues to the evolution of the reptiles, which have more than 150 named species including the well-known pterodactyl.

A cache of Triassic fossils in Arizona has revealed Eotephradactylus mcintireae, or "ash-winged dawn goddess," the oldest pterosaur ever discovered in North America.