Photo/Illutration An illustration of the reconstructed pterosaur based on a fossil found in Mifune, Kumamoto Prefecture (Created by Zhao Chuang)

A team of researchers re-examining a fossil found about 30 years ago in Kumamoto Prefecture concluded it is a new genus and species of pterosaur, a prehistoric flying reptile.

It is the first such naming of a fossil discovered in Japan, the researchers from the Mifune Dinosaur Museum, Kumamoto University and Hokkaido University announced on May 13.

The new species, named Nipponopterus mifunensis, is on display at the museum.

According to the announcement, the fossil dug up in 1996 in Mifune, Kumamoto Prefecture, came from a layer of the Late Cretaceous (100.5 million to 66 million years ago) in a riverbed upstream from a dam.

The fossil was of the cervical vertebrae.

But the lack of fossil information about pterosaurs at that time made it difficult to more clearly identify the fragment.

The research team used a CT scan of the fossil and compared the data with those of other pterosaurs.

That led to the conclusion the fossil was a new species of azhdarchid pterosaur, which had a long neck.

The fossil was dated from about 90 million years ago and is from a close relative of Quetzalcoatlus, a large pterosaur that lived in North America in the latter half of the Late Cretaceous.

The research team published its findings in the March issue of Cretaceous Research.

Azhdarchids appeared in the Late Cretaceous in a wide area encompassing Asia, Africa and the Americas.

But there are few fossils because the skeletons are so fragile.

(This article was written by Eiji Zakoda and Ryo Sasaki.)

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