Dragon-like pterosaur found in outback Queensland identified and named.

 Extract from ABC News

ABC North West Qld

By Larissa Waterson

Posted 2 hours ago

Thapunngaka shawi is Australia's largest known pterosaur. The large bony crest found on its lower jaw is the third largest in the world.

(Supplied: The University of Queensland)

Savage, with giant jowls set in a spear-like skull, Australia's largest "dragon" dating back 100 million years has been identified by researchers in north-west Queensland.

Key points:

• Australia's largest pterosaur has been identified
• With a wingspan of around 7 metres, the prehistoric predator is the largest found in Australia
• The discovery contributes greatly to experts' understanding of Australian pterosaur diversity

A decade after its skeletal remains were discovered on Wanamara country near Richmond, palaeontologists have confirmed the specimen is the largest pterosaur found in Australia.

Called Thapunngaka shawi [ta-boon-nga-ga shore-eye] in honour of the Wanamara people, the flying reptile would have soared above the Eromanga Sea that once covered much of outback Queensland.

PhD candidate Tim Richards, from the University of Queensland's Dinosaur Lab, likened it to the mythical creature.

"It's the closest thing we have to a real-life dragon," he said.

"The new pterosaur would have been a fearsome beast, with a spear-like mouth and a wingspan around seven metres."

Ruler of the sky

With a wingspan of around 7 metres and a 1-metre skull full of 40 large teeth, the Thapunngaka shawi was a fearsome predator.

(Supplied: Travis R Tischler)

Mr Richards led the team that analysed a fossil of the creature's jaw. 

Their analysis found the large bony crest on Thapunngaka shawi’s lower jaw to be the third-largest in the world.

"It was essentially just a skull with a long neck, bolted on a pair of long wings," he said.

"This thing would have been quite savage. It would have cast a great shadow over some quivering little dinosaur that wouldn't have heard it until it was too late."

Mr Richards said the skull alone was just over 1 metre long, containing about 40 teeth, perfectly suited to grasping the many fish known to inhabit Queensland's no-longer-existent inland sea.

Pterosaur remains have been discovered around the world, specifically in South America, Asia and Africa. However, Mr Richards said Australia was home to some of the largest specimens.

"We compared it to everything we have so far and pterosaurs from around the world," he said.

"What we're finding is that the Australian ones were quite big compared to the rest of the world. They certainly held their own in terms of size."

Significant find

The fossil belonged to a group of pterosaurs known as anhanguerians, which inhabited every continent during the latter part of the Age of Dinosaurs.

Being perfectly adapted to powered flight, pterosaurs had thin-walled and relatively hollow bones, meaning remains are rare and often poorly preserved.

Thapunngaka shawi is the closest thing we have to a real-life dragon, according to lead researcher and PhD candidate Tim Richards.

(Supplied: The University of Queensland)

"By world standards, the Australian pterosaur record is poor, but the discovery of Thapunngaka contributes greatly to our understanding of Australian pterosaur diversity," Mr Richards said.

It is only the third species of anhanguera pterosaur known from Australia, with all three species hailing from western Queensland.

The discovery of Thapunngaka shawi contributes greatly to experts' understanding of Australian pterosaur diversity.

(Supplied: The University of Queensland)

The fossil was found in a quarry north-west of Richmond in June 2011 by local fossicker Len Shaw, who had been searching in the area for decades. 

The name of the new species incorporates words from the now-extinct language of the Wanamara nation.

Thapunngaka is a merging of 'thapun' and 'ngaka', the Wanamara words for 'spear' and 'mouth' while the species name 'shawi' honours the fossil’s discoverer Len Shaw.