Meet the Venetoraptor gassenae, the pterosaur’s flightless ancestor

As if the thought of a flying pterosaur with a 6.5 foot wingspan dominating Earth’s skies wasn’t terrifying enough, paleontologists have now found an even older pterosaur ancestor with some prominent claws. The latest find might not have its signature wings just yet, but boasts a beak and sharp claws. The roughly 230-million-year-old lagerpetid unearthed in Brazil is described in a study published on August 16 in the journal Nature. 

[Related: This pterosaur ancestor was a tiny, flightless dog-like dinosaur.]

Pterosaurs and dinosaurs both evolved about 235 million…