May 2026 – Nix Illustration

Mimodactylus libanensis was a small pterosaur that lived in what is now Lebanon during the late Cretaceous, about 95 million years ago.

It was the latest-surviving known member of a group of pterosaurs called istiodactyliformes, closely related to the Chinese Haopterus.

The only known fossil specimen had a wingspan of around 1.3m (~4’3″) — but it was still a juvenile and the full adult size of Mimodactylus is currently unknown. Its long narrow wings were shaped much like those of modern seabirds, suggesting it used dynamic soaring over the shallow sea and scattered islands that covered the region at the time.

Its fairly broad snout and strong pointed teeth may have been used to forage for shrimp at the water’s surface similar to some modern albatrosses, a previously undocumented feeding style for pterosaurs.

Cambroraster falcatus was a radiodont that lived during the Cambrian, about 508-505 million years ago, in what is now western Canada. Part of the hurdiid family of radiodonts, it reached sizes of up to 30cm long (~12″) – making it one of the largest animals known from the Burgess Shale fossil deposits.

Its distinctively-shaped massive head shield led to it being nicknamed “the spaceship” during collection and study of numerous fossil specimens. This was then referenced in its species name of “falcatus“, inspired by its resemblance to the fictional Millennium Falcon from the Star Wars franchise.

Its short frontal appendages bore long curved spiny blades that formed a basket-like structure. Originally these were thought to be used to sift through seafloor sediment, but more recently they’ve been proposed as filter-feeding structures instead.