Newly Identified Dinosaur Species Named after the Little Girl Who Discovered It

Four years ago, nine-year old Daisy Morris found a strange object on the beach on the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of Britain. It was the fossilized pelvic girdle of a previously unknown species of flying reptiles. Scientists recently named it Vectidraco daisymorrisae after its discoverer:

The Morris family, from Whitwell, approached Southampton University's 'Fossil Man' Mr Simpson with Daisy's finds in 2009.

"I knew I was looking at something very special. And I was right," said Mr Simpson.

The fossil turned out to be a new genus and species of small pterosaur; a flying reptile from the Lower Cretaceous period.

Link -via Samuel West | Image: BBC