During the belated Cretaceous , 100 to 66 million year ago , a large island was perch in theTethys Seaat least 200 kilometers ( 120 statute mile ) away from the landmasses that would afterward shape Central Europe , the Balkans , the Iberian Peninsula , and the Adriatic sphere of the Mediterranean . Upon this isolated clod of land , called Ha?eg Island , anumber of unusual creaturesevolved , include midget dinosaurs , giant lizards , unique early mammals , and several genera of massive pterosaurs .
Now , a squad of five palaeontologists intimate that a new type of giant – and perhaps flightless – pterosaur was also on the island , based on an psychoanalysis of a mandibular bone that had been sitting in a Hungarian museum collection for 30 years .
“ It is not the largest flying reptile ever found , but it is the largest jawbone [ low-pitched jaw ] recover to date , with a reconstructed length of 110 to 130 centimeters [ 43 to 51 inches ] , ” lead writer Mátyás Vremir toldNational Geographic . “ This might betoken a very large size flying reptile – possibly of 8 to 9 meters [ 26 to 29 pes ] in wingspan . ”
Writing in the journalLethaia , Vremir and his co-worker mull that the specimen was a appendage of theAzhdarchidae kinfolk , a widespread group of pterosaurs that survive other lineages of the winged reptilian ( tempting as it is to lump them together , pterosaurs were not dinosaurs ) .
Azhdarchids seem to have come in a variety of sizes but stuck with two primary morphological flavors : Those with extremely elongate , narrow skull alight on elegant necks ; and those with shorter skull and thicker necks .
Although they have only recovered tantalizing fogey fragments , the current grounds suggests that while Azhdarchids of both shape inhabited Ha?eg , the prominent species stick to the latter form .
In 2017 , a handful of bones found in Transylvania lead to the verbal description of an enormous new Azhdarchid genus – namedHatzegopteryx – estimated to be as tall as giraffe when stand on its hindlimb and have a wingspread of 10 meters ( 33 feet ) .
And in 2009 , Vremir discovered an even bigger specimen of Ha?eg pterosaur , though its genus has yet to be make up one’s mind . dub “ Dracula ” , the animal ’s wingspan may have been up to 20 meters ( 66 feet ) .
Given that the current study ’s jawbone is a alike size to that of aHatzegopteryx , Vremir ’s squad concedes it is potential that the latest specimen was in reality another object lesson of the fuck genus . But due to features remindful of a related but non - Azhdarchid pterosaur calledBakonydraco , the squad believes the pterosaur may have actually had a relatively big , more robust principal thanHatzegopteryxand a smaller body .
“ island are ill-famed for throwing up oddment . We have a bunch of weird dinosaurs from Ha?eg and a lack of really large carnivores , so the pterosaurs were basically tyrannosaurus replacement , ” Dave Hone , a London - based palaeontologist not involved in the research , told National Geographic .
[ H / T : National Geographic ]
