As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Pterosaur

PALEONTOLOGY: When Dragons Ruled the Skies

by
anhanguerian pterosaur - Deposit Photos

About 110 million years ago in what is now Australia, a flying “dragon” dominated the skies. With an estimated 23-foot (7 meters) wingspan, it was the continent’s biggest pterosaur, new research finds. Pterosaur fossils are rare in Australia; fewer than 20 specimens have been described since paleontologists found the continent’s first pterosaur bones about two decades ago. Scientists identified the newfound species, Thapunngaka shawi, from a fossilized piece of a lower jaw found at a site in North West Queensland dating to the Cretaceous period (about 145.5 million to 65.5 million years ago). T. shawi’s skull would have measured over … Read more

Meet “Butch” the Pterosaur

by
Butch the Pterosaur

The fossil of a previously undiscovered pterosaur, known as a “flying lizard,” has been named Lenton’s iron dragon — but you can call him Butch. The 96-million-year-old pterosaur lived among dinosaurs and was found by a sheep grazier named Bob Elliott in Australia near Winton, Queensland. A new study detailing the fossil published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports. The researchers who studied the new species named it Ferrodraco lentoni, or Lenton’s iron dragon, in honor of Graham “Butch” Lenton, Winton’s mayor who died several months after the fossil was found in early 2017. Lenton supported regional communities in western … Read more