SYDNEY, Aug 10 (NNN-XINHUA) – Paleontologists identified the remains of Australia’s largest flying reptile, with a wingspan of about seven metres, that long ago soared above a vast inland sea, according to a research revealed today.
Tim Richards, from the University of Queensland’s Dinosaur Lab, led a research team that analysed the fossilised jaw of a pterosaur, which was discovered in Wanamara Country, in the state of Queensland.
Richards told Xinhua that the creature, which was the “closest thing we have to a real-life dragon,” had ruled the skies about 105 million years ago.
He described it as having been a “fearsome beast, with a spear-like mouth” and was “essentially just a skull with a long neck, bolted on a pair of long wings.”
“It would have cast a great shadow over some quivering little dinosaur that wouldn’t have heard it until it was too late,” he said.
In a research paper published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, scientists noted that the skull, which is just over a metre long, contains about 40 teeth, which would have made it perfectly suited to grasp the many fishes, which inhabited the Eromanga Sea.
“Pterosaurs were a successful and diverse group of reptiles – the very first back-boned animals to take a stab at powered flight,” Richards said.
He said, the prehistoric reptiles had thin-walled and relatively hollow bones, which meant their fossilised remains were rare and often poorly preserved.
“It’s quite amazing, fossils of these animals exist at all,” he said.
Dr Steve Salisbury, who co-wrote the research paper, said, what was particularly striking about the new species was, the massive size of the bony crest on its lower jaw, which it presumably also had on the upper jaw.
“These crests probably played a role in the flight dynamics of these creatures, and hopefully future research will deliver more definitive answers,” Salisbury said.
The fossil was actually found in a quarry about 10 years ago by a fossicker, Len Shaw, who had been “scratching around” the area for decades, but its significance had not been appreciated until Richards and his team began their investigation.
The scientists have called the discovery Thapunngaka shawi, which combines ancient aboriginal words meaning “spear” and “mouth,” while shawi is in recognition of the determined fossicker.
“So, the name means ‘Shaw’s spear mouth’,”said Salisbury.– NNN-XINHUA
