A new species of Australian pterosaur has been named and described based on a fragmentary fossil representing the front portion of the lower jaw. Thapunngaka shawi is just the fourth pterosaur to have been named and described from the “land down under” and with a wingspan estimated to be as much as 9.47 metres, it might just be the largest Australian flying reptile known to science.

Thapunngaka shawi

Pterosaur fossils from Australia are exceptionally rare. The light and hollow bones of flying reptiles rarely survive fossilisation, T. shawi is only the fourth pterosaur to have been described from the twenty fossil specimens attributed to members of the Pterosauria discovered in Australia.

Council worker and local fossil collector Len Shaw found the fossil bone ten years ago at a site known as the “water pond” at the “Free Fossil Hunting Site”, located seven miles northwest of the town of Richmond (Queensland). The strata at this site were laid down at the bottom of the Eromanga Sea (Toolebuc Formation) around 106 million years ago (Early Cretaceous). A researcher from the Kronosaurus Korner Museum was sent out to view and excavate the area and a scientific paper on T. shawi was published this week in the “Journal of Paleontology” with the collaboration of scientists from the University of Queensland.

Commenting on the significance of the fossil discovery, one of the report’s authors, University of Queensland PhD student Tim Richards stated:

“By world standards, the Australian pterosaur record is poor, but the discovery of Thapunngaka contributes greatly to our understanding of Australian pterosaur diversity.”

“Shaw’s Spear Mouth”

The genus name is derived from the local aboriginal language of the Wanamara Nation, on whose land the holotype material was found. It translates as “spear mouth”, a reference to the sharp teeth that would have been located in the alveoli (tooth sockets) preserved on the fossil specimen. The species name honours Len Shaw.

Assigned to the Anhangueridae, Thapunngaka and other anhanguerid pterosaurs from Queensland help to demonstrate the global distribution of these types of flying reptile during the Cretaceous, with anhanguerids known from South America, Africa, Europe and Australia.

A phylogenetic assessment indicates that Thapunngaka was related to Tropeognathus from South America.

The picture (above) shows a pair of Mojo Fun Tropeognathus pterosaur figures.  This flying reptile figure was recently introduced into the Mojo Fun Prehistoric and Extinct range.

To view this range of prehistoric animal models and figures: Mojo Fun Dinosaurs and Figures.

Australian Pterosaurs

Of the four Australian pterosaurs named to date, three of them Mythunga, Ferrodraco and Thapunngaka have been assigned to the Anhangueridae family which suggests anhanguerids were the dominant group of Australian pterosaurs during the Early Cretaceous.

Aussiedraco molnari is the only non-anhanguerian pterosaur described so far from Australian fossil finds. This flying reptile has been assigned to the Targaryendraconia, a clade of pterosaurs that was created following a reassessment of ornithocheirid fossil material.

A List of the Australian Pterosaurs Described to Date:

• Mythunga camara – a member of the Anhangueridae family, named and described in 2008 based on fossils from the Toolebuc Formation.
• Ferrodraco lentoni – also an anhanguerid and believed to be the sister taxon of M. camara which was named and described in 2019: Australia’s Most Complete Pterosaur Fossil.
• Thapunngaka shawi – the third anhanguerid to be described.
• Aussiedraco molnari – named and described in 2011, also from the Toolebuc Formation.

The Largest Australian Pterosaur

Estimating the size of Thapunngaka with only a fossil fragment to study is challenging. The researchers compared the size and proportions of the mandible fossil with those of better-known and more complete anhanguerids. Although the authors of the scientific paper admit that there is not a strong relationship between mandible size and wingspan, they estimate that Thapunngaka could have had a wingspan from around 5.83 metres up to a massive 9.47 metres. The researchers suggest that Thapunngaka shawi is the largest pterosaur known from Australia.

The scientific paper: “A new species of crested pterosaur (Pterodactyloidea, Anhangueridae) from the Lower Cretaceous (upper Albian) of Richmond, North West Queensland, Australia” by Timothy M. Richards, Paul E. Stumkat and Steven W. Salisbury published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

Scientists have examined the fossilised remains of a large ornithopod dinosaur, whose fragmentary remains were discovered in 1963 and concluded that these remains represent one of the “oldest” dinosaurs known to science. The fossils assigned to a basal member of the Hadrosauroidea known as Gobihadros mongoliensis are not that geologically old, this dinosaur roamed Mongolia around 93 million years ago, the important point to note is that the fossils come from a very aged dinosaur. These fossilised bones have provided palaeontologists with a unique insight into the ageing process of non-avian dinosaurs.

Most Dinosaur Fossils Represent Young Animals

Palaeontologists classify vertebrate fossils such as dinosaur remains into three broad age categories. These categories are juvenile, subadult and adult. In the absence of a detailed assessment of bone structure examining lines of arrested growth (LAGs), that can provide a guide to the number of years an animal has lived, the age of the vertebrate is estimated by looking at the degree of ossification of the skeleton, the bone microstructure and the size of animal. Larger animals with more ossification present in their skeleton indicate older animals.

Most of the dinosaur fossil remains represent young animals such as subadults or juveniles. However, a team of scientists writing in the academic journal “Scientific Reports”, have published a paper looking at the fragmentary Gobihadros material that was discovered in 1963 and concluded that these bones represent a very aged dinosaur. How old is difficult to tell, but the presence of abnormal calcium deposits in some of its bones indicate that this Gobihadros suffered from a form of arthritis, which is found mostly in very old members of a population.

Probably Gobihadros mongoliensis

Elements representing limb bones, part of the left foot and nine tail bones (caudal vertebrae) have been preserved. The femur and tibia match fossil material assigned to Gobihadros (G. mongoliensis) which was named and described in 2019: A New Hadrosauroid Dinosaur from Mongolia.

As G. mongoliensis is the only large ornithopod known from the Baynshire Formation in the Khongil Tsav locality (Mongolia), where the fossils were found, the material has been assigned to this species. When first scientifically described in 2019, the holotype fossil material indicated a dinosaur around three metres in length, these fossils, representing a much larger animal suggest that Gobihadros grew to a maximum size of around 7.5 metres long.

The absence of open transcortical channels associated with the limb bones indicate that this dinosaur was very old when it died.

Calcium Pyrophosphate Crystals Found

Traces of abnormal calcium deposits were identified in some of the bones. Computerised tomography (CT scans) revealed that this dinosaur suffered from a form of very painful arthritis called CPPD (calcium pyrophosphate crystal deposition). These calcium crystals build up in the joints and lead to restricted movement, joint stiffness and considerable pain. This condition is found in our own species, it most often affects people in their late fifties.

Co-author of the paper Dr Tomasz Szczygielski (Polish Academy of Sciences) commented:

“Dinosaurs in the reptile family tree are close to birds, but some of their characteristics, such as metabolism, refer to mammals. That is why it is still difficult for us to interpret how these organisms aged”.

The fossilised remains of this elderly dinosaur are currently on display at the Museum of Evolution at the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw (Poland). The scientists hope that further research using other museum specimens may provide more information on how dinosaurs aged and this might provide an insight into why some kinds of archosaur such as the crocodiles survived the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event but the non-avian dinosaurs did not.

The scientific paper: “Dinosaur senescence: a hadrosauroid with age-related diseases brings a new perspective of “old” dinosaurs” by Justyna Słowiak, Tomasz Szczygielski, Bruce M. Rothschild & Dawid Surmik published in the journal Scientific Reports.

The Everything Dinosaur website: Dinosaur Toys and Models.