Newly invented storehouses once flew “like a dragon” over Australia

It was populated on the Fifth Continent millions of years ago and has wingspans of up to seven meters. According to a study by doctoral student Tim Richards and his team published in the journal Spine Archeology, it is the largest flying reptile ever to live in Australia.

Scientists have examined a fossil jaw found in the Vanamara area of ​​northwest Queensland. The animal looked like a dragon, Richards said. The new sterosor we called the “Tapungaka Shavi” must have been a scary beast with a spear-like mouth and about seven meters of wings. At that time, parts of Queensland were covered by the ancient Inland Sea (Iromanga Sea), on which strollers slid and mainly hunted fish.

40 teeth in the tooth

“They basically had a skull with a long neck and two long wings,” says Richards. The skull is more than a meter long and the tooth has 40 teeth. “They should have cast big shadows on the trembling little dinosaurs and they didn’t hear it until it was too late.”

According to scientists, the newly discovered kite belongs to the group Annexueridae, which inhabits all continents in the latter half of the age of dinosaurs. The stereosers had very thin walls and relatively bare bones and were good glider pilots. Fossil remains of these animals are very rare. “It’s almost unbelievable that they are even fossils,” Richards said.

Fossil hunter Len Shaw discovered pine in northwest Richmond in 2011. The name of the new species is “Tapungaka Shavi” which is derived from his family name and the language of the Vanamara tribe, which is now extinct, with the words Tapun and Ngaka referring to “spear mouth”.