Discovery: Thapunngaka shawi- a Prehistoric Flying "dragon"

 Imagine seeing a bird with a 23-foot wingspan... well, 110 million years ago in Australia, there was a flying dinosaur or pterosaur that big. Here's the story of the finding! ' 

(Image: A flying reptile (artist impression) with a massive 23ft wingspan and 'spear-like' mouth was the 'closest thing we have to a real life dragon', according to scientists studying its remains. Credit; University of Queensland) 

Real-life "Dragon" in Cretaceous Australia was huge, toothy and a 'savage' hunter 

 Science Live,  Mindy Weisberger - Senior Writer Aug.10, 2021

Thapunngaka shawi was Australia's biggest known pterosaur.

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 3 feet (1 m) long, and its mouth would have been crammed with approximately 40 teeth, making the extinct reptile "the closest thing we have to a real life dragon," study lead author Tim Richards, a doctoral candidate and researcher in The University of Queensland (UQ) Vertebrate Palaeontology and Biomechanics Lab, said in a statement.

The pterosaur's genus name, "Thapunngaka," comes from one of the languages spoken by the Indigenous people of the Wanamara Nation, who live where the fossil was discovered. The name incorporates "thapun [ta-BOON'] and ngaka [NGA'-ga]," which are "the Wanamara words for 'spear' and 'mouth,' respectively," the researchers wrote. "Shawi," the species name, is a nod to the man who found the fossil, an amateur prospector named Len Shaw.

"So the name means 'Shaw's spear mouth,'" the scientists wrote in the study.

The spear-mouthed pterosaur had a crest on the underside of its lower jaw, and its upper jaw was likely crested, too, according to the study. Toothed pterosaurs called anhanguerians had such skull crests, and the researchers classified T. shawi as part of that group.

"These crests probably played a role in the flight dynamics of these creatures," study co-author Steven Salisbury, a senior lecturer in the UQ School of Biological Sciences, said in the statement. 

FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/dragon-pterosaur-australia.html?utm_source=SmartBrief&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=368B3745-DDE0-4A69-A2E8-62503D85375D&utm_content=9985B12A-8DD9-4A32-B904-F4A195E4866F&utm_term=cb486bd9-5e56-49fc-869b-ea0dd0662c29