They found the remains of a terrifying “flying dragon”, the largest winged reptile of ancient Australia

Paleontologists have just made an impressive discovery, the remains of a “dragon” that dominated the sky over northeastern Australia about 110 million years ago.

With seven meters wingspan and a mouth full of fangs, it is the largest pterosaur species ever found on the continent, an extremely important find that contributes to our understanding of the diversity of pterosaurs in Australia.

“It’s the closest thing we have to a real dragon”said paleontologist Tim Richards of the University of Queensland in Australia.

“The new pterosaur, which we call Thapunngaka shawi, would have been a formidable beast, with a spear-shaped mouth and a wingspan of around seven meters.”he explained.

In essence, it was just a skull with a long neck, screwed onto a pair of long wings.

“This thing would have been pretty wild. It would have cast a long shadow over some quivering little dinosaur who would not have heard it until too late. ” added.

The remains of pterosaurs in Australia are extremely rare. Like today’s birds, their bones, optimized for flight, they were hollow and brittle, so very few have survived to this day. Fewer than 20 specimens have been described on the continent, and only three have been named, before T. shawi.

Additionally, only two Australian pterosaurs belonged to a group known as Anhanguerian pterosaurs, both of which originated in the northeastern state of Queensland. T. shawi is the third Anhanguerian in Australia; He is also from Queensland.

Their description is based on a fragment of a lower jaw and what we know of other Anhanguerian pterosaurs. It is named after the fossil hunter who discovered it, Len Shaw, and incorporates words from the language of the First Nations people who inhabited the area, the Wanamara Nation.

“The genus name, Thapunngaka, incorporates thapun (ta-boon) and ngaka (nga-ga), the words Wanamara for ‘spear’ and ‘mouth’, respectively,” said paleontologist Steve Salisbury of the University of Queensland.

According to the team’s reconstruction, T. shawi’s skull was about a meter long, with about 40 teeth. The beast is said to have flown over the Eromanga Inland Sea that once dominated eastern Australia, using its long and powerful jaw to pull the fish out of the water.

The researchers found that a large bony ridge on the lower jaw was of particular interest. From what is known to Anhanguers, the upper jaw of the animal also sported such a crest.

“These ridges likely played a role in the flight dynamics of these creatures, and I hope future research will provide more definitive answers.” Salisbury said.

It was from this ridge that the researchers estimated the size of the pterosaur; it is, they said, the largest mandibular crest known to all Anhanguerians. If their estimates are correct, T. shawi would be the third largest known Anhanguerian pterosaur in the world.

This suggests that Australian pterosaurs rivaled contemporary species from other continents in terms of size. Additionally, anatomical similarities between the jawbone of T. shawi and those of other Australian pterosaurs suggest that there may have been a diversification of local pterosaur species around the Eromanga Sea.

“It’s quite surprising that there are fossils of these animals”Richards said.

“By global standards, the Australian pterosaur record is poor, but Thapunngaka’s discovery contributes greatly to our understanding of the diversity of Australian pterosaurs.”, Underline

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