A newly discovered species of petrosaur -- a winged reptile that lived alongside the dinosaurs some 220 million years ago -- has been named after the nine-year-old fossil hunter that found it.
Scientists dubbed the Vectidraco daisymorrisae after the young Daisy Morris of the U.K., according to a report by National Geographic News. Vectidraco means "dragon from the Isle of Wight" in Latin.
Morris was reportedly exploring the Isle of Wight in 2008 when the then-five-year-old came across "blacked bones sticking out of the sand," according to the BBC.
The girl's family took the find to paleontologists at the University of Southampton , where the fossils were identified as a never-before-seen species of ancient reptile.
"I knew I was looking at something very special. And I was right," said Martin Simpson, a fossil expert at the University of Southampton, in the BBC report.
"In pterosaurs, certain parts of the skeleton, especially the skull and the pelvis, are really distinct between different [species]," said Andrew Farke, a paleontologist at the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology in Claremont, California, according to National Geographic.
The new species belongs to a group of petrosaurs called azhdarchoids, which lived in the Cretaceous era, are toothless and evolved to live in woodland and forest areas in a climate much warmer than that of England today.
The creature has an estimated wingspan of 2.5 feet and was about a foot tall.
Daisy Morris' find also inspired the children's book "Daisy and the Isle of Wight Dragon," which was co-authored by Simpson, one of the researchers who published a paper on the new creature.
A BBC interview with Daisy Morris can be seen here.
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