Argentina: The new specimen of historic flying reptile can also be referred to as pterosaur.
Buenos Aires:
Argentine scientists found a brand new species of an enormous flying reptile dubbed “The Dragon of Death” that lived 86 tens of millions of years in the past alongside dinosaurs, in a discover shedding recent perception on a predator whose physique was so long as a yellow faculty bus.
The new specimen of historic flying reptile, or pterosaur, measured round 30 ft (9 meters) lengthy and researchers say it predated birds as among the many first creatures on Earth to make use of wings to hunt its prey from prehistoric skies.
The staff of paleontologists found the fossils of the newly coined Thanatosdrakon amaru within the Andes mountains in Argentina’s western Mendoza province. They discovered that the rocks preserving the reptile’s stays dated again 86 million years to the Cretaceous interval.
The estimated date means these fearsome flying reptiles lived at the least some 20 million years earlier than an asteroid impression on what’s now Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula worn out about three-quarters of life on the planet about 66 tens of millions years in the past.
Project chief Leonardo Ortiz mentioned in an interview over the weekend that the fossil’s never-before-seen traits required a brand new genus and species identify, with the latter combining historic Greek phrases for loss of life (thanatos) and dragon (drakon).
“It seemed appropriate to name it that way,” mentioned Ortiz. “It’s the dragon of death.”
The reptile would probably have been a daunting sight. Researchers, who printed their examine final April within the scientific journal Cretaceous Research, mentioned the fossil’s enormous bones classify the brand new species as the most important pterosaur but found in South America and one of many largest discovered wherever.
“We don’t have a current record of any close relative that even has a body modification similar to these beasts,” mentioned Ortiz.