Apr 25 2021 Read 6 Times An international team of researchers from China, Brazil, UK, Denmark and Japan have described a new Jurassic pterosaur Kunpengopterus antipollicatus, as having the oldest true opposed thumb - a novel structure previously not known in pterosaurs. Discovered in the Tiaojishan Formation of Liaoning, China, the new 160-million year old species dubbed ‘Monkeydactyl’, is a small-bodied darwinopteran pterosaur with an estimated wingspan of 85 cm. Most importantly, the specimen was preserved with an opposed pollex (“thumb”) on both hands. The research team scanned the fossil of K. antipollicatus using micro-computed tomography (micro-CT), a technique making use of X-ray to image an object. By studying its forelimb morphology and musculature, they suggest that