A set of fossil bones discovered in 2017 in Australia has been named as a new species of pterosaur. The flying dino has been named Ferrodraco lentoni, or “Butch’s Iron Dragon” in honor of the late mayor of Winton, Graham “Butch” Lenton. It had a wingspan of 13 feet (four meters) and a skull that's two feet (60 centimeters) long. This species is quite a rare find.
To remain in the air, these fancy fliers’ bones had to be extremely lightweight and hollow, which means their delicate remains readily collapsed and crumbled under pressure. Because of this, astonishingly few have ever been found, and Australia in particular has largely remained a blank slate.
“You could put all the fossil material in a handbag,” Unwin says.
In Ferrodraco’s case, its remains were found in an iron-rich rock, the source of its remarkable preservation—and of its genus name, a combination of the Latin words for “iron” and “dragon.” Iron-rich fluids likely permeated the animal’s carcass after it died, which later formed a tough mineral that bolstered the fragile bones and preserved them in 3D, Pentland says. Such exceptional preservation could help researchers better understand pterosaur mechanics, such as how pterosaurs flew, Unwin adds.
Butch's Iron Dragon lived approximately 96 million years ago. Read more about the fossil at National Geographic. -via Boing Boing
(Image credit: Travis R. Tischler)