By: Jeremy Sun
A new species of pterosaur, a type of flying reptile with bird-like beaks, was discovered in 2021 by museum curator Kevin Petersen in Australia. These reptiles lived alongside dinosaurs during the Mesozoic Era and were believed to be incredibly large, with a wide wingspan and a giant muscular tongue.
According to the article, New species of pterosaur with ‘muscular tongue’ discovered on CBBC, the pterosaurs were enormous prehistoric flying reptiles that lived from about 225 to 65 million years ago during the Mesozoic Era, alongside the dinosaurs. Although pterosaurs shared ancestry with dinosaurs and lived alongside them, they are not actually dinosaurs but reptiles. This distinction arises from their different skeletal structures and evolutionary paths.
Pterosaurs are known for being the first vertebrates to achieve powered flight, long before birds and bats. They were primarily carnivorous, with diets ranging from fish and squid to small vertebrates and insects. Pterosaurs used their large muscular tongues to catch and eat prey. Some species of pterosaurs were scavengers.
Pterosaurs inhabited diverse environments, from coastal areas to inland ecosystems. Fossil evidence suggests they nested in colonies, much like modern seabirds.
The fossilized bones of the new pterosaur were analyzed by a research team from Curtin University in Western Australia. Only 22% of the entire skeleton of the anhanguera has been recovered. Adele Pentland apprises, “The specimen includes complete lower jaws, the tip of the upper jaw, 43 teeth, vertebrae, ribs, bones from both wings and part of a leg.” “Also present are very thin and delicate throat bones, indicating a muscular tongue, which helped during feeding on fish and cephalopods.”
The researchers studied the structure of its cranium and shoulder bones, along with the arrangement of its teeth. The researchers identified this pterosaur species as an anhanguera.
From these fossils, they learned that anhangueras have lightweight respiratory systems which helped them fly long periods over the ocean. They also learned anhangueras had great eyesight to help them find food and had incredible hunting skills from their sturdy jaws and crests on their snouts, which allowed them to snatch fish from the ocean.
PhD student Adele Pentland, who spearheaded the research, stated that, “With a wingspan of approximately 4.6 meters, Haliskia would have been a fearsome predator around 100 million years ago when much of central western Queensland was underwater, covered by a vast inland sea and globally positioned about where Victoria’s southern coastline is today.”