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Scientists have identified a small, flightless forerunner to the great winged dinosaur, the pterodactyl.

The twenty centimetre-long fossilised creature, Scleromochlus, was found inside a block of sandstone in Scotland more than a century ago.

It's only now that powerful X-ray scans have been able to place it on the family tree of the first flying reptiles - pterosaurs - which first took to the skies more than 200 million years ago.聽聽

Dr Davide Foffa from National Museums Scotland is hopeful that they will "be able to apply the same technique to find out more" from other fossils and continue to unveil evolutionary secrets.

(Photo: 3D skeletal reconstructions of Scleromochlus taylori. Credit: Matt Humpage 漏 Northern Rogue Studios)