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Australia’s largest flying reptile has been discovered, a pterosaur with an estimated wingspan of seven meters that hovered like a dragon above the ancient and vast inland sea that once covered much of the rear. Queensland country.
Tim Richards, a doctoral student at the University of Queensland, led a research team that analyzed a fossil of the creature’s jawbone.
“It’s the closest thing we have to an actual dragon,” 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 around 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 long shadow over a few quivering little dinosaurs who wouldn’t have heard them arrive until it was too late.
Richards said the skull alone would have been just over a meter long, containing around 40 teeth, perfectly suited for gripping the large predatory fish known to inhabit the Eromanga Sea, which no longer exists in the Queensland.
“Even though pterosaurs could fly, they looked nothing like birds, or even bats,” he said.
“Pterosaurs were a thriving and diverse group of reptiles – the very first backbone animals to attempt powered flight. “
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 perfectly suited to powered flight, pterosaurs had thin-walled, relatively hollow bones.
Given these adaptations, their fossilized remains are rare and often poorly preserved.
“It’s pretty amazing that fossils of these animals exist,” said Richards.
“By global standards, the Australian pterosaur record is poor, but Thapunngaka’s discovery 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.
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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 probably also had on her upper jaw. .
“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. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
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.
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“The genus name, Thapunngaka, incorporates 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 ‘the mouth of Shaw’s spear’.”
(LOOK the short video on this discovery below.)
Source: University of Queensland
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