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Artist’s impression of the formidable shawi Thapunngaka. Credit: Adobe stock
Australia’s largest flying reptile has been discovered, a pterosaur estimated to be seven meters in wingspan that hovered like a dragon above the ancient and vast inland sea that once covered much of the hinterland from Queensland.
Tim Richards, PhD candidate from the University of Queensland, from the Dinosaur Lab at UQ’s School of Biological Sciences, led a research team that analyzed a fossil of the creature’s jaw, found in Wanamara Country , near Richmond in northwest Queensland.
“It’s the closest thing we have to a real dragon,” Mr. Richards said.
“The new pterosaur, which we named Thapunngaka shawi, would have been a formidable beast, with a spear-shaped mouth and a wingspan of about seven meters.
“It was basically just a skull with a long neck, bolted to a pair of long wings.
“This thing would have been pretty wild.
“It would have cast a large shadow over a small, trembling dinosaur who wouldn’t have heard it until it was too late.”
Tim Richards with the skull of an Anhanguerian pterosaur. Credit: Tim Richards
Mr Richards said the skull alone would have been a little over a meter long, containing around 40 teeth, perfectly suited for gripping the many fish known to inhabit the Eromanga Sea, which no longer exists in Queensland.
“It’s tempting to think he might have stinged like a magpie during mating season, which makes your local magpie sting pretty trivial – no amount of zippers would have spared you.”
“Although, to be clear, it didn’t look anything like a bird, or even a bat – pterosaurs were a thriving and diverse group of reptiles – the very first backbone animals to try their hand at powered flight. . “
Hypothetical contours of Australian pterosaurs showing relative wingspan sizes. 1.8 m human for the ladder. Credit: Tim Richards
The new species belonged to a group of pterosaurs known as anhanguerians, which inhabited all continents during the latter part of the Dinosaur Age.
Being ideally suited for powered flight, pterosaurs had thin-walled, relatively hollow bones. Given these adaptations, their fossilized remains are rare and often poorly preserved.
“It’s quite astonishing that there are fossils of these animals,” Mr. Richards said. “By world standards, the Australian pterosaur record is poor, but the discovery of Thapunngaka contributes greatly to our understanding of the diversity of Australian pterosaurs.
This is only the third species of Anhanguerian pterosaur known in Australia, all three species being native to western Queensland.
Reconstruction of the skull of Thapunngaka shawi (KKF494). From Richards et al. (2021). Credit: Tim Richards
Dr Steve Salisbury, co-author of the paper and Mr Richard’s thesis supervisor, said what was particularly striking about this new species of anhanguerian was the massive size of the bony ridge on its lower jaw , which she presumably had on her upper jaw as well.
“These ridges probably played a role in the flight dynamics of these creatures, and I hope future research will provide more definitive answers,” said Dr Salisbury.
The fossil was found in a quarry just northwest of Richmond in June 2011 by Len Shaw, a local fossicker who had “scratched” in the area for decades.
The name of the new species honors the First Nations people of the Richmond area where the fossil was found, incorporating words from the now extinct language of the Wanamara Nation.
Hypothetical outline of Thapunngaka shawi with a wingspan of 7 m, alongside a wedge-tailed eagle (2.5 m wingspan) and a hang glider (10 m wingspan). Credit: Tim Richards
“The name of the genus, Thapunngaka, incorporates the thapun [ta-boon] and doctor [nga-ga], the Wanamara words for ‘spear’ and ‘mouth’ respectively, ”Dr Salisbury said.
“The name of the species, shawi, pays homage to the discoverer of the fossil, Len Shaw, so the name means “Shaw’s spear mouth”. “
The fossil of Thapunngaka shawi is on display at the Kronosaurus Korner in Richmond.
Reference: “An Upper Trias Assembly of terrestrial vertebrates from the forgotten locality of Kocury (Poland) with a new taxon of aetosaurs “by Łukasz Czepiński, Dawid Dróżdż, Tomasz Szczygielski, Mateusz Tałanda, Wojciech Pawlak, Antoni Lewczuk, Adam Rytel and Tomasz Sulej, April 6 Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
DOI: 10.1080 / 02724634.2021.1898977
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