Girl Discovers Dinosaur On Walk With Family; Fossils Confirmed To Identify Unique Pterosaur Species, Named After 5-Year-Old Discoverer Daisy Morris

A 5-year-old girl discovered a dinosaur that lived up to 115 million years ago.

The previously undiscovered prehistoric flying dinosaur was discovered by Daisy Morris, who found the dinosaur's fossils while walking on a beach.

The girl who discovered the dinosaur wants the species named after her, as Vectidraco daisymorrisae. The name essentially translates to 'Daisy Morris's dragon from the Isle of Wight'.

Daisy Morris, who is now nine, discovered the dinosaur fossil at Atherfield beach on the Isle of Wight in 2009, according to Sky News.

Daisy discovered the fossil while she and her family were on a walk on the beach. Her mother Sian Morris told BBC, "She has a very good eye for tiny little fossils." Her daughter started hunting for fossils at age 3.

In 2009, "She found these tiny little black bones sticking out of the mud and decided to dig a bit further and scoop them all out."

Upon inspecting the fossils, Daisy and her family took the fossil to local dinosaur expert Martin Simpson to determine if they were dinosaur fossils and to which species they belong.

Simpson confirmed, with help from his University of Southampton colleagues, that the fossil identified a new dinosaur species. The results of his research on the fossils were posted on Monday, March 18.

Simpson said, "When Daisy and her family brought the fossilized remains to me in April 2009, I knew I was looking at something very special. And I was right."

"The fossil turned out to be a completely new genus and species of small pterosaur, a flying reptile from 115 million years ago in the Lower Cretaceous period, which because of the island's eroding coastline, would without doubt have been washed away and destroyed if it had not been found by Daisy," Simpson continued.

"It just shows that, continuing a long tradition in paleontology, major discoveries can be made by amateurs, often by being in the right place at the right time."

Daisy's dinosaur fossils have been donated to the Natural History Museum. The museum recently named the Isle of Wight as the 'dinosaur capital of Great Britain'.

Daisy's personal fossil collection continues to grow. Sian Morris told The Daily Mail, "She's fascinated and we're very proud of her."