A formidable flying reptile – a pterosaur – as soon as patrolled the skies over an historical sea. It had a wingspan a lot bigger than that of a pelican, with highly effective jaws and tongue for catching fish and cephalopods. When it died, a few of its bones had been buried in marine sediment and ultimately turned fossilized. 100 million years handed. The ocean the place it lived has lengthy since disappeared and is now an arid expanse in western Queensland, Australia. On June 12, 2024, a global crew of researchers said they’ve recognized fossils belonging to this flying cousin of dinosaurs.
In 2021, Kevin Petersen, a curator on the Kronosaurus Korner Museum in Queensland, discovered the pterosaur’s fossilized bones weathering out of some rocks. He rigorously excavated it for scientific research. Then, researchers who analyzed the bones found the species was new to science. They published their findings within the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Studies/ Springer Nature on June 12, 2024.
Pterosaurs had been historical flying reptiles
When dinosaurs as soon as dominated life on land, massive flying reptiles like pterosaurs dominated the skies.
Opposite to widespread perception, pterosaurs weren’t flying dinosaurs. As an alternative, they had been reptiles associated to dinosaurs. These creatures, scientists assume, had been the primary vertebrate animals to evolve powered flight. That’s, they had been in a position to frequently flap their wings to maintain themselves aloft for lengthy durations.
Pterosaur fossils have been discovered worldwide. However they’re comparatively rare as a result of their bones are skinny and fragile, and subsequently typically not well-preserved.
These creatures first emerged about 225 million years in the past. And so they turned extinct 66 million years in the past, across the similar time most dinosaurs perished. However for nearly 160 million years, pterosaurs thrived. They advanced to kind many alternative species, ranging in size from a pigeon to a small plane.
A brand new kind of pterosaur
Adele Pentland, a graduate pupil at Curtin College, led the research of the fossil. She was in a position to determine the specimen as a kind of pterosaur known as an anhanguerian, primarily based on its cranium, tooth and shoulder bones. Different distinctive options concerning the specimen additionally indicated it was a brand new species, distinctive to the fossil report.
Haliskia peterseni is the title of this new pterosaur species. Of their paper, the scientists described the origin of its title. The genus title, Haliskia, is a mix of historical Greek phrases that evoke “a flying creature that casts a shadow on the ocean.” The species title, peterseni, is in honor of Kevin Petersen who found and ready the fossil.
What scientists learn about Haliskia peterseni
Pentland said:
With a wingspan of roughly 4.6 m [15 feet], Haliskia would have been a fearsome predator round 100 million years in the past when a lot of central western Queensland was underwater, coated by an enormous inland sea and globally positioned about the place Victoria’s southern shoreline is at present.
She additionally had these feedback concerning the fossil:
Cautious preparation by Mr. Petersen has offered the stays of probably the most full specimen of an anhanguerian, and of any pterosaur, found in Australia to this point.
Haliskia is 22% full, making it greater than twice as full as the one different identified partial pterosaur skeleton present in Australia.
The specimen consists of full decrease jaws, the tip of the higher jaw, 43 tooth, vertebrae, ribs, bones from each wings and a part of a leg. Additionally current are very skinny and delicate throat bones, indicating a muscular tongue, which helped throughout feeding on fish and cephalopods.
Pentland offered some extra particulars concerning the pterosaur’s head in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Company:
This animal was an grownup, with a giant head about 60 cm lengthy, or 2 ft, lengthy. And in these jaws had been dozens of spike-shaped tooth. So, we seemed on the form of the cranium and we expect it was in all probability consuming fish and squid-like cephalopods.
Backside line: A fossil unearthed in western Queensland, Australia, is a brand new species of pterosaur. Scientists named it Haliskia peterseni.
Source: Haliskia peterseni, a new anhanguerian pterosaur from the late Early Cretaceous of Australia
