<
https://theconversation.com/100-million-year-old-fossil-find-reveals-huge-flying-reptile-that-patrolled-australias-inland-sea-231393>
"One hundred million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, much of
northeastern Australia was underwater. The inland Eromanga Sea was home to a
myriad of marine creatures, from turtles and dolphin-like ichthyosaurs to the
bus-sized predator
Kronosaurus queenslandicus and other plesiosaurs.
The forested outskirts of the sea were home to dinosaurs and the skies above
were filled with birds. But all of them would have been shaded by the largest
flying creatures of the age – the pterosaurs.
In November 2021, an avocado farmer turned museum curator named Kevin Petersen
discovered a fossilised skeleton near Richmond in Queensland. The previously
unknown species turned out to be the most complete pterosaur fossil found in
Australia. It comprises around 22% of the skeleton of an animal with a wingspan
of some 4.6 metres.
My colleagues and I have now described the fossil in the journal
Scientific
Reports. It represents a new species of pterosaur, and we’ve named it
Haliskia peterseni, meaning Petersen’s sea phantom."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
